Shohei Ohtani denies making sports bets and calls Ippei Mizuhara a liar

Shohei Ohtani just broke his silence on the gambling scandal surrounding his former performer – and the Dodgers star was adamant he never placed sports bets.

The 29-year-old addressed the press on Monday afternoon for the first time since Ippei Mizuhara was fired for allegedly using some of the baseball player’s funds to gamble at an illegal bookmaker.

Ohtani told reporters through his new translator: Iretonthat he had no idea what was going on with the situation until a team meeting following the Dodgers’ first game of the season last week in Korea.

He said Ippei was stealing money from his account and using it to pay off debts… and then lying to him and others about Ohtani’s involvement in all of this.

“I’m very saddened and shocked that someone I trusted would do this,” Ohtani said.

Ohtani – who did not answer any questions during the meeting with reporters – added that he “never agreed to settle the debt or make payments to the bookmaker.”

As we previously reported, Mizuhara — who worked as Ohtani’s translator for nearly a decade — was fired by Los Angeles on March 20 … after Ohtani’s lawyers accused him of stealing from the Dodgers star and gambling with the money.

The allegations were interesting to say the least… considering Mizuhara had initially said in an interview with ESPN that Ohtani gave him the funds to cover his gambling debt.

However, Mizuhara retracted this story hours later.

“I want everyone to know that Shohei had no involvement in gambling,” Mizuhara said. “I want people to know that I didn’t know it was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never bet on sports again.”