1 big question remains after Shohei Ohtani addressed the interpreter who allegedly stole millions from his account

On Monday, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar two-way player Shohei Ohtani addressed the media for the first time since news broke that Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, had sent at least $4.5 million of his funds to an alleged illegal sports betting operation in California.

The recent blockbuster free-agent addition to the Dodgers didn’t take questions from the media, only reading from a prepared statement. But that statement, in many ways, raised more questions than answers.

Ohtani adamantly claimed that he never bet on Major League Baseball and that the funds were taken from his account without his knowledge, alleging that he was betrayed by someone he trusted in Mizuhara who, according to Ohtani, “told lies.”

Shohei Ohtani states he has never bet on baseball or any other sport, and publicly accuses former translator Ippei Mizuhara of stealing from him and lying pic.twitter.com/zjapF6o07K

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 25, 2024

However, if it really is true that Ohtani had no knowledge of the payments, there’s one burning question that still remains: How did Mizuhara gain access to Ohtani’s accounts?

Further, if he did gain access to Ohtani’s accounts without his knowledge, how was he able to transfer millions of dollars to an individual who was already under federal investigation without flagging the attention of the bank’s risk management systems?

These questions could all have perfectly reasonable answers, but they were not adequately answered by Ohtani’s statement. And considering the fact that Mizuhara has given multiple conflicting statements on the matter, initially claiming that Ohtani was paying off his gambling debts — a statement both he and Ohtani’s camp later refuted — it’s hard to gauge what’s actually going on here.

One thing is certain, though: This story continues to get stranger, and Ohtani’s statement did little to put the issue to bed.