Shohei Ohtani makes statement regarding gambling scandal | MLB on ESPN

ESPN should apologize to Ohtani.

Shohei seems like the type of guy who doesnt concern himself with his financials. He trusts people. He seems singularly focused on his craft. So i can see how someone he trusted over the course of years could gain access to things/ bank info. Shohei is only guilty of naivety.

I don't speak nor understand Japanese but the way he speaks and his expressions just make me believe him innocent and that he is nothing more than a victim here

I believe him. Dude isn’t hiding or being shady. Seems like a genuine dude.

We all (should) know that Ippei was more than just a “translator”.
Ohtani was merely 23 when he came to the states. Ippei had lived in CA. Likely, Ippei helped Ohtani open a bank account, get him an apartment, take care of him 24/7.
In fact, Ippei drove Ohtani, he played catch with Ohtani, and took care of him and his house during his recovery from surgery.
Ippei was his de facto agent/“personal assistant” for Ohtani 24/7.
Allegedly, it is reported (by some Japanese news outlets) that Ippei was in charge of managing some of Shohei’s endorsement and sponsorship deals, from negotiating to payment.
For example, Shohei recently donated 60,000 baseball gloves to schools in Japan. He also invited 100 students to come study abroad in the U.S. these could have been managed by Ippei.
Hence, it is very possible that Ippei in fact did have access to one of his bank accounts.
Very obscure relationship (and naive of Ohtani), but he trusted Ippei, and Ippei took advantage of that.

Ohtani did not go to the drinking party with the players of the Japanese team gathered for the WBC, even though he was invited. He told his Angels teammates, "You shouldn't gamble. It's not a good act." When he was invited to a casino on the expedition, he refused.

I trust and continue to trust Shohei's genuine dedication to the baseball, remembering his old interesting episodes. This is Shohei Ohtani, who asked his teammates of Nippon Ham Fighters, "what kind of fun would you have when spending time for drinking? I would think it is more meaningful to spend the time to play baseball" and who sent a video gift to his former Manager Kuriyama on the night of Christmas when everybody else was enjoying the night, the video which he recorded himself practicing on batting on that night.

Is it hard to believe that athletes get ripped off by people they trust? Tim Duncan had $20 million stolen from him. Kevin Garnett lost $47 million. Baker Mayfield just settled a lawsuit against his family who was stealing from him.

His eyes tell us how he hurts.
We have believed him and we will. Always.

He's incredibly truthful, don't you think?
You have to admit, he's a very sincere person.

Some Americans make fun of the fact that Otani always speaks English through an interpreter. However, most Americans who have lived in Japan for many years cannot even read Japanese in the first place.

I just realized this might be the first time English speakers are paying attention to what Shohei says, not what Ippei says.

For those of you who are complaining about Otani not speaking English, why don't you start making an effort to learn Japanese? Ohtani is giving 120% toward his challenge as a two-way player and the goal of winning a championship for the Dodgers. That's right, Ohtani is going to play for the Dodgers for the next 10 years. If you are interested in him, why not master Japanese as soon as possible? You probably have more time than he does.

Shotime is a legit role model. Sad this happened to him. Everybody needs to remember that he is really the only victim here.

i can see shohei’s pain in his eyes…. i feel so bad for him that he has to go through this☹️

If you're a sports fan, root for your team instead of wishing the opposing team was guilty with unseemly speculation.

I can imagine that it's difficult for some Americans who do not know Ohtani's history and upbringing in Japan, including how he was even at the Angels to believe fully what Ohtani explained is believable and truth. But as a Japanese who have followed him in Japan and as he moved to MLB, I can attest that what he said is 100% believable.
Ohtani since he was a young boy was very focused with specific goals set and worked diligently on the path to achieving them. His parents and especially his mother was instrumental in providing the support he needed so that he can focus 100% on his tasks (the baseball). This is why if you are a baseball fan in Japan, and this is a very well known story in Japan, everyone knows that Ohtani's mother took 100% control of his money (income and expenses) and the set up was simple for Ohtani in that she gave him monthly allowance of very little money. Ohtani used team dormitory and team meals 100% to focus on baseball. This is how he lived in Japan as a NPB player era. Ohtani is known to be frugal and does not spend money like normal pro athletes do. He is not interested in fashion, clothing, shoes, cars, basically not interested in tangible material stuff. Again, this is very well known in Japan about him.
Ippei Mizuhara was smart in that he put himself in the position with Ohtani to take care of all of his personal duties out side of baseball so that Ohtani can just focus on baseball as he did in Japan. The identical set up that he had with his mother. Ippei was a perfect man for it and Ohtani trusted him 100%. So in this context, it is very plausible and most likely the case that Ippei had this role (similar to the role Ohtani's mother had in Japan) for Ohtani since he became MLB player. Ippei is not just a translator for Ohtani. Ippei was essentially Ohtani's personal caretaker, personal assistant, consultant, butler, driver, shopper who took care of all Ohtani's needs to live in USA. He therefore had access to Ohtani's bank accounts and was probably helping him on setting up the payables, bills for his expenses etc etc. Don't forget, Ohtani has no experience managing his own money in the past, he is also oblivious to all the living expenses especially in the USA. Ippei was the perfect friend and paid worker for him to do these tasks. In this set up, Ippei can easily transfer Ohtani's money, even 4.5 million without Ohtani knowing (again, Ohtani has been very naive, trusting and indifferent about money matters, except that he knows that he has been getting 50 to 75 million per year on endorsement and baseball contracts even in the past years, so 4.5 million may not be so significant in this light and could not be noticeable if he was trusting Ippei to manage). Agent is there to deal with the baseball contracts and he is not Japanese so he would not have known his personal contents. This is why Ippei is said to have been paid upwards of $400,000 per year to work for Ohtani, where as a regular personal translator working 9 to 5 is paid $150,000ish for a pro-athlete.
So you guys take a rest on speculating and jumping to conclusion about Ohtani in this situation. Eventually the investigation will shed a better light on what I am talking about.

Some argue that Ohtani should explain how Mizuhara, who is merely an interpreter, managed to access Ohtani’s bank account and make unauthorized transfers. However, as for this ‘incident,’ Ohtani has already entrusted it to the judicial authorities. Therefore, the responsibility to resolve this question, that is, to prove the case, lies with the prosecution, not with Ohtani, who is the ‘victim.’ It is legally and morally impossible for Ohtani to explain that he did not make the transfers. In other words, this is a case of ‘proving a negative.’ Many fans of Ohtani, including myself, are highly interested in this question, but it should be well understood that it is quite harsh to force Ohtani to resolve this question at present.

I could not even open an account if I lived in Japan and had to open a bank account and deal with all bank activities in other languages. I could not even check account information in Japanese. People who tried to blame him, could not imagine how hard it could be to live in another country. I understand he had to leave all to Ippei or other Shohei team members. Huge betrayal and such a tragedy. I feel for him.

If Ippei had said that ”Shohei said this”, a person who does not speak Japanese would have believed what Ippei said, even if it was adapted by Ippei.
That complicates the story.

Let's keep in mind, ohtani is the same guy who was sending all his money to his mom to handle it when he was playing for the Fighters. Ippei was his most trusted friend and assistant, it's not unfathomable to think he had access to funds.

Being Japanese, i don't hear a single lies from the tone of his voice. He doesn't look nervous at all, so I can at least assume that he knows he did nothing wrong

This is so sad to see Ohtani involved in this kind of crappy situation…😢😢😢

오타니는 오타니구나... 역시 명확하고 간결합니다. 오타니 선수는 이번 시즌도 흔들리지 않고 잘해낼거라 믿어요.
오타니의 삶을 보아왔고 오타니가 어떤 사람인지 아는 팬들은 의심은 커녕 이 일을 딛고 더 멋지게 일어설 오타니 선수를 기대할겁니다. 아무쪼록 상처받은 마음이 치유되고 더 크게 도약하기를...

I will always believe innocent until proven guilty. He seems very cooperative and deeply disgusted about what has happened.

If he was guilty of wrongdoing, there's ZERO chance his attorney would allow him to speak this early on. I'm confident Shohei will be 100% cooperative and honest until it's put to bed.

In Japan, Shohei was famous for not spending money ever since he was a rookie with a Japanese baseball team. No as a saver, but as someone who doesn't care about money. Even in Japan, many professional baseball players buy expensive cars, clothes, foods and watches and live extravagant lives after joining the team. However, at the time, most of Shohei's receipts were for food from convenience stores. His parents said at the time that he was only saving money. He doesn't care about extravagance, he just loves playing baseball and is focused. When he came to Japan for World Baseball, he didn't do anything other than attend his classmates' reunions and refused even his teammates' invitations to go out for drinks. He is trully concentrating with all his heart on how much he can extend his baseball best career and the best time. Because he just loves baseball.

As a gambling man myself I would bet that a Ohtani hasn’t gambled $1 in his life

Body language is universal!! dont just listen to the translations. listen to ohtani speak. you can tell his words are his own. with confidence.

At this point, I believe Ohtani. Of course, we got to let the facts come out first. The FBI is investigating and they don’t play games, they won’t give Ohtani or Mizuhara any special treatment because they don’t do that with anyone. They’ll find out for sure who wired the money, how Mizuhara got access to Ohtani’s bank account, and where the money went. It’s already been proven Mizuhara lied about both graduating from a university in the US and also lied about working for the Red Sox. When you connect two and two together, Mizuhara looks like a conman who was taking advantage of Ohtani to cover his tracks and find a way to pay off his debt. Also to point out, Mizuhara wasn’t just an interpreter for Ohtani, he was more as a personal assistant/butler who helps with your living expenses and stuff. That could be how he had access to the account and transferred the money himself behind Ohtani’s back. Again, we’ll know for sure but the evidence so far points to Mizuhara being a con artist who used Ohtani for his own benefit.

Yeah he’s telling the truth. The tone of his voice is a truthful man. Knowing his background, dude literally eats, sleeps and baseball

Handled it like a true professional

Hey ESPN! Say something, I'm waiting in Japan.

Athletes losing money to someone they trust happens more than you think. Like Tim Duncan lost $20 MILLION DOLLARS from his good friend/financial advisor and he only found out about it when he went through his divorce

If this is true, it is one of the biggest betrayals anyone can commit (friend or not). Feel bad for Shohei....

I think he’s sincere

오타니 파이팅❤❤

I trust him from the bottom of my heart.
And about the US media still broadcasting against Ohtani…what is wrong with them?!!
Are they trying to accuse and blame anything Japanese?!!…just like they did when Japan tried to have Tokyo Olympics!?? And US media was completely silent when China had the Olympics.
Who are they working for REALLY?!!!!!!

This interpreter is doing an excellent job. Nothing is added and nothing is subtracted. He is very quick too.

I can c and tell he is mad and disappointed bout ippei how he talk ...shohei not showing his emotions much but today he is different...and I believe what he said

Ippei was able to deceive not only Ohtani but also most of the people around him, including Fighters, Angels and Dodgers. No one has found Ippei's resume is fraud until now.
Ippei must be really good at deceiving.

Seems like a kind, gentle, innocent young man.

If only the bureaucrats in our federal government were scrutinized as much as these athletes

I stand by Shohei, through and through

Lord, I don't ask for much. I just want a Shohei Ohtani in my life please.

I BELIEVE IN SHOHEI !
Not saying he never makes mistakes but his only mistake here was being too trusting with his friend/translator!

Let this be a lesson to all of you, it doesn't matter if they're your best friend for over 5 years, anyone can do anything to you if they have the access. Beyond the fact that he's embroiled in a national news story about gambling, he just lost what he thought was his closest friend and confidant. Hopefully he can just focus on playing baseball and moving on with his life.

Stay away from messy friends, everyone. Love them at a distance.

This is similar to Selina who head of her fan club was embezzling millions. Once confronted by Selena we all know what happened. Ohtani I believe got very lucky!

I like this interpreter better then ippei much clearer.

Breaks my heart that he has to experience it. But horrible things tend to happen to nicer person

Ohtani is not the type of person who would get into gambling. He is not interested in spending money and dislikes flashy things.
He grew up in a small town that has many rice fields where there are hardly any amusements or stores.
His wife carries a $50 Zara purse still nowadays!!! His wife is a classy, sporty woman who wears minimal makeup or no makeup at all and no body-conscious dress!
The only reason he drives a Porsche is because it's his sponsor, and the car was given to him for free. He has to drive that for advertisement purposes.
His parents refused when Shohei offered to remodel their house, and his sister and brother refused when Shohei offered to buy a house for them, saying that they don't want to use Shohei's money.
Shohei truly believes in karma and started picking up trash on the ground, believing that doing something good would bring good luck to him. He has been doing that since he was in high school.
Shohei is a humble and good-hearted Japanese person. There is really no way he would get into gambling.

Wow, imagine that scene in the clubhouse in Seoul, Ippa is telling all the Dodgers he's being investigated in english before he tells Othani, unreal, like Shakespeare or Rome.

오타니 힘내라

I'm from Taiwan and I believe this guy.

Perhaps Shohei conducts all procedures in the United States through an interpreter. It's quite possible that the interpreter may not convey any information that could disadvantage Shohei in any situation. Given the seemingly deep relationship between the two, the interpreter would likely be in a position to know quite a lot about Shohei's private affairs, and obtaining various important pieces of information would have been relatively easy. While one could argue Shohei's carelessness, it's also not a relationship where he could completely prevent information from being leaked. I suggest hiring multiple interpreters next time. With several, they may notice suspicious points.

Ohtani only wants to play baseball, nobody should interrupt him. Let us enjoy watching him play the game of baseball.

I have never doubt you from day one. Everyone that has seen you through your career knows you could never.

Someone who is pure about baseball, sincere, and never lies.

I understand how people in disbelief to see a person be so gullible and entrust an interpreter and allowed him an access to his finances. According to the media, Ohtani has known Ippei since he was an interpreter for an American player in Nippon ham fighters. They have known each other over 10 years. Ohtani is too committed to become the best baseball player, so he depended on his family, agent and I guess even Ippei to manage his important admin/financial matters. I've read Ippei sent a big sum of $ to donate to Japanese elementary schools on behalf of Ohtani before, and Ippei has the access to the account since then.

I speak both English and Japanese And Felt show his explanation was super clear. I’ve also been An executive assistant, before where I’ve had full access to my bosses bank accounts to pay for things like events and flights, and whatever he needed. I don’t think people realize that when you have so much money going in and out of accounts as I’m assuming Otani does, It can actually be pretty common to not audit every single transaction in the moment or even a month or two after. This isn’t some small personal banking account. With all the endorsements and everything everything he’s running there’s so much money going in and out and I could see it being very plausible, that these all just went unnoticed.

This actually makes more sense now. Coming from a family of immigrants myself, I know how common it is for immigrants who don't understand english to have some coordinator be a middle-man and give that person access to almost everything, including bank information. I'm sure it's especially difficult for someone with so much money to only want to give access to one person who they really trust, and that way, at the very least, if something goes wrong, you know who to point the finger to. If Ippei was acting as like a chief of staff for Ohtani, all of this makes sense. Ippei himself told media before that translating constitutes 10% of his actual work for Ohtani. Of course, Ohtani has more work to do to clarity the situation, but so far, that seems like a likely scenario. You also have to understand the context in Japanese culture, where men usually work for the family and live on an allowance provided by their parents when they’re single and their wives when they’re married. It’s very common for men to have zero handling of their finances. (Don’t believe me, ask literally anyone with substantive knowledge in Japanese culture.) In a foreign land, it would make sense that he had his closest confidante since 2013 handle it.
Let’s also remember that if he was actually involved, as some seem to believe, it doesn’t make sense to implicate Ippei in a theft instead of just that he helped pay off Ippei’s debt-that would mean a higher sentence for Ippei, which makes it less likely for him to “take the fall” for this illegal gambling scheme, and would involve stricter investigations into Ohtani himself.

No matter what others say, Ohtani is a decent person!

We continue to support you, Ohtani san. Don’t mind the people who spread malicious rumors about you because they are only envious of your success.👊🏻

Shohei is a good guy he knows the rules in baseball i believe in him..

The facts will come out. Ohtani made it public that he was a victim of fraud and his money stolen by Ippei. Ohtani is fully cooperating with the authorities and if Ohtani is lying he's going to jail now. Do some people still believe Ohtani is guilty? Athletes get money stolen all the time by people who they trusted. Also what is so messed about this situation is that the absolute best case scenario here for Ohtani is his best friend (former) stole from him and tried to implicate him in a federal crime.

As a Japanese, I will write about Otani already. In Japan, it is so peaceful that if you drop your wallet, someone will deliver it to you, and Otani is not really interested in money. Baseball is his reason for living.
As others have said, he lived on a regular allowance and lived off the cars and clothes his sponsors gave him. And his parents managed billions of yen. His parents did not waste his money. This is the pride and trust of the Japanese people. Because God is watching.
Ippei was not only his interpreter, but also his manager and friend, managing his accounts and supporting his meals.
Otani trusted him that much, and this incident must have caused him more grief than anger.
Still, Otani is a first-class player and will change his mind and play baseball, and I want to support him.

As a fan for 10years, I know I can trust Shohei. Anyone has doubt about him will see the truth later.

Dude had the best job in the world and was the greatest baseball player's homey ace and he threw it all away...What a fall from grace! Ippei will never be allowed to set foot in Japan again.

It's always the people you trust that betrays you

You don't need to understand someone to know if they are being honest. Ohtani is innocent, without a doubt

Please let me say as same Japanese. Otani is telling all truth. Until this interview I thought he covered up Ippei’s debts, but how he spoke made me believe Otani wad telling all truth. Some people questioned how Ippei access to ohtani’s bank account… that’s easy Ohtani taught Ippei all his personal information incl bank account / ID /password. For foreigners it’s hard to manage all payments/ utilities bill / tax in US in that beginning. I am cpa in California and even myself first year in US was tough in many occasions. To avoid all these, I believed shohei had Ippei have all payments task.
Some people said why Ippei told a lie for the first interview with ESPN, that is easy. Ippei is addicted to gambling and no hesitation to telling a lie even though he knows the lie
Is going to be uncovered soon. I know
Someone who is like Ippei. He is very nice and wonderfully warm heart but telling a like all the time to cover he is drinking. He is alcoholic.

I'm Japanese, but I want Americans to know about this new translator. I feel like he only translates about 80% of what's said. For starters, he uses "obviously" a lot, but Shohei never says "obviously" in Japanese. I think a real professional translator should have done this. Shohei's explanation in Japanese was perfect and left no room for doubt. Shohei's explanation in Japanese clearly and concisely shows that Shohei has nothing to do with gambling and that Ippei was telling a huge lie to everyone around him at the beginning.

Thanks ESPN! Your dedicated investigation uncovered this critical incident. I hope Otani's career continues to thrive in success.

I love him. Prayers ❤ Stay strong.

Those who don't want to believe Otani's story here can wait for Ippei's rebuttal. If Otani is lying, Ippei, who has been accused of theft, will surely refute that Otani is lying.
If Ippei does not refute that Otani is lying after this, it would automatically be like proving that Otani is telling the truth.

I believe Shohei. He’s got way too much to lose and way too smart of a person to throw away $ with gambling.
And oh… why wasn’t the interpreter given a scripted translation…

I don't think Ohtani's at fault but he needs to also fire his financial people. How does an interpreter/personal assistant get access to that amount of money and have the authority to wire it (9 payments at 500K each!) ? This isn't an ATM w/draw of $200. Ohtani needs to fire his accountants and financial people for not paying attentions to Ohtani's accounts.

大谷選手がギャンブルをやるような人ではないことは分かりきってました。
一平さんに全幅の信頼をおいて、彼に口座を任せていたのでしょうね。
口座の送金方法は捜査中だから、話せないのでしょう。
そもそもギャンブル依存症の人は、息を吐くように嘘をつくので、一平さんの言っていたことは何ひとつ信用出来ない事は明らかです。

Ohtani's body language says a lots. I dont think he did, but will wait and see. Yankee fan here.

Its nice hear the facts and to hear whats true and not true

I’ve witnessed first hand this with a family member of a famous actress. The actress makes a lot of money and the family members wanted a part of it. The brother acted as the manager/agent but he was never satisfied with the cut that he gets. Him and the father would ask for money to spend on gambling and the daughter gladly gave them the money. You see, the gambling happens when that person is trying to make big money using someone else’s funds. For some its the casino, for some its sports betting.

This reminds of one of my fav players, Ryan Howard. Let's remember that HE was betrayed by his OWN FAMILY. I believe Ohtani is a type of person who only focuses on his passion (baseball) and leaves everything else to his representatives.

大谷翔平選手頑張って下さい応援しています。

People are quick to judge. We live in a society where people are deemed guilty before innocence and innocent until proven guilty (especially in this social media age with the trolls) Let the facts and investigation do their job first.

The troll haters need to get a life, comes on accussing someone without facts. We all know why the trolls are disliking Shohei 1st-he's one of the best players in the game 2nd-he's Asian and the face of baseball 3rd-he's the highest paid player (deserves it he's like Cole and Judge as one player) but everytime the trolls come on and criticize the great Unicorn it only makes the trolls look like a fool.

After all, the gambling was taking place without Otani's knowledge. His innocence was proven.

If you are 100% not guilty of any wrongdoing, you would fight like a dog and be transparent to clear your name. If you are guilty, you would not say anything and probably hide behind a lawyer. Here he is doing the former and being forthright and clearing things up from his perspective. We don’t need to understand Japanese to see in his tone and body language that he is adamant and truthful to what he’s saying. Now Ippei needs to come clean and confirm that Shohei had no knowledge and had nothing to do with his crimes.

Now, ohtani, he looks calmed, but inside, he is pissed off. He is going to hit 75 homerun to get the anger out of him.

That’s how you shut down the haters Shohei! They just can’t handle greatness and they will try anything to ruin your career!! Just stay focus on playing baseball from here on out!!!

I think he was guilty of being too trusting and btw where is Ippei? The guy has to be in panic mode or is he already headed for the border?

Some of internet citizens are always finding faults with Ohtani.

大谷がベースボール以外の事を話せるのか？と心配だったけど、とても堂々としていて、そして少し怒りを含んでいるように見えた

“Ohtani didn’t explain how Ippei accessed his account“
Ask Ippei, not Ohtani 😂

I must stay, this was by far, a lot of info he provided. Instead of the typical " I cannot comment due to an ogoing investigation" that we get from every one, Ohtani pretty much told us everything that pretty much answered all my main concerns and questions. The fact that he laid everything out from when and how he found out, tells me that he is 100% truthful. Because if he is hiding something, anything said here can come back around, so if someone is lying, they would not even take the risk of giving this exact Play by Play this early on. I believe him 100%

I don’t speak his language but I think he’s saying more than what this translator is saying

He’s telling the truth

Ohtani is about to have a LEGENDARY season! Mark my words, this situation just fueled the 🔥🔥🔥

When Shohei Ohtani joined the Dodgers, he signed a contract to receive 90% of his contract money after 10 years. Such a man would never be interested in gambling. If he were a gambler, he would sign a contract right now to receive the full amount.

As for Ohtani's press conference, I certainly think people would have understood him better if he had spoken in English. However, if he spoke in English, he would only be reading from a manuscript. By speaking in Japanese, I was able to understand that he was speaking in spoken Japanese, whether in words or sentences, and that he was thinking on the spot. It was not as if I was reading from a manuscript, but I could read the emotion in each word. Unfortunately, however, only those who understand Japanese could understand him. Language is so difficult.