Ohtani says he never bet on sports, ‘shocked’ interpreter stole money from him

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani said Monday that he never bet on sports and that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara stole money from him and lied.

Ohtani held a news conference at Dodger Stadium, five days after the Dodgers fired Mizuhara following media investigations into at least $4.5 million in wire transfers sent from Ohtani's bank account to a Southern California bookmaking operation under federal investigation.

“I'm very saddened and shocked that someone I trusted did this,” said the Japanese star sitting next to Will Ireton, the team's head of performance operations, who was translating.

Ohtani spoke for nearly 12 minutes, referring to a document in front of him. He did not answer questions.

“Ippei stole money from my account and lied,” Ohtani said.

An MLB source told ESPN that MLB investigators have spoken with federal prosecutors and are free to pursue their own investigation without restrictions. MLB has not received any information about the matter and does not expect the investigation to be completed, the source said.

A two-time MVP, Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels in December to sign a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers.

“I have never bet on baseball or any other sport and I have never asked anyone to do so on my behalf and I have never used a bookmaker to bet on sports, and you cannot never asked me to help bet (pay for someone else),” Ohtani said.

Information from ESPN's TJ Quinn, Alden Gonzalez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.