WILLIAM BRANGHAM: One of the world's premier athletes, Shohei Ohtani, has been caught up in allegations of illegal gambling.
The Los Angeles Dodger just signed a record 10-year $700 million contract, but he is now engulfed in controversy.
Here's what we know.
Ohtani's former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, said he asked Ohtani to pay off millions of dollars of his gambling debts.
Mizuhara, who's been fired by the Dodgers and is under criminal investigation, said Ohtani had no role in any betting.
And while $4.5 million was sent from Ohtani's bank account to an alleged illegal bookmaker, Ohtani hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing and denies any involvement.
SHOHEI OHTANI, The Los Angeles Dodgers (through translator): I am very saddened and shocked that someone whom I trusted has done this.
I do want to make it clear that I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For a closer look, we turn to Andy McCullough, He is a senior writer for "The Athletic" and author of "The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness."
Andy, thank you so much for being here.
Just for our viewers who are not familiar with who Shohei Ohtani is, this is one of the stellar athletes in baseball, an incredible hitter, keeps getting better, was an amazing pitcher when he's on the mound.
Many believe this guy is the greatest in the game today, also apparently one of the nicest guys too.
So this news gets out about these gambling allegations.
How did that news come out and how did that land in the baseball community?
ANDY MCCULLOUGH, Senior Writer, "The Athletic": Yes, I mean, I can answer the second person -- the second part first.
It landed like a bomb.
It's been -- that is still basically been going off nearly a week later.
I mean, the way the story initially came out was The Los Angeles Times reported that Ohtani's name had surfaced in a -- the sort of books or the records of an alleged legal bookmaker named Matthew Boyer, who lives in Southern California, is under federal investigation.
When The Los Angeles Times and subsequently ESPN approached Ohtani's camp about the -- sort of Ohtani's presence in these books, the response that was given back is that Ohtani appeared in there because he was paying off the debts of Mizuhara, Ippei Mizuhara, Mizuhara his longtime interpreter.
Subsequently, Mizuhara recanted his story after, as Ohtani's camp frames it, he told the Dodgers players and staffers that Shohei is a great guy, he stepped up to pay off my debts.
Ohtani, his camp, the way they're presenting it is, he was unaware that this was what Mizuhara was telling the Dodgers.
When Ohtani became aware of what Mizuhara had said, he said, that's not true.
I never was knowingly paying his debts or anything like that.
And, subsequently, he accused Mizuhara of a massive theft of at least $4.5 million.
Mizuhara was fired.
He did -- to be clear with Mizuhara, he initially said that Ohtani was being a good friend and paying off his gambling debts, but he later recanted and said, that's not true.
I can't say how I got the money, but Shohei nothing about this.
And so there's still so many unanswered questions.
Ohtani came out yesterday in what you played earlier and said clearly he did not bet on baseball and that he was swindled by his friend.
There's still a lot of things, though, that need to be cleared up to explain how exactly that swindling could have happened.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, as you well know, after -- Major League Baseball and all professional sports have spent generations trying to keep gambling at bay, but now professional sports gambling, legalized apps and all of that are widespread.
What is it that professional ball players and people in professional organizations are not allowed to do?
ANDY MCCULLOUGH: Sure.
And it's important to say up front that Ohtani has said he did not bet on baseball.
And Mizuhara even in the -- in both accounts has said that Ohtani did not bet on sports at all.
Ohtani said he didn't bet on anything, to be clear.
So that's not really what is that issue just yet.
But it is going to be important for this investigation to figure out what exactly Mizuhara was betting on.
If you are -- as a former employee, as former employee in baseball, Mizuhara would be subject to the same punishment that a player would if you were found to be betting with an illegal bookmaker on college basketball, the NFL, tennis, whatever.
That's your punishment by a fine, most likely.
That's kind of what the precedent is.
If you are betting on a game, on a baseball game that you are not involved in, the punishment is a yearlong ban.
If you're betting on a baseball game that you are involved in, it's a permanent ban.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So this could turn out to be that Ohtani had done nothing wrong and he's been stolen from by his former colleague.
I mean, in the end, that's what this all could turn out to be, but we still just don't know that yet?
ANDY MCCULLOUGH: Well, that's certainly possible.
That is what Ohtani presented to the public when he spoke on Monday, that Ippei was his friend, he stole from him, and that he's really shocked by that.
I think that what is next is sort of figuring out, how much did Mizuhara steal?
It's been reported that it was at least $4.5 million.
And how exactly did you do it?
How did this person get access to his accounts?
How was he able to sort of complete that sort of theft?
And I think one thing that, in talking to attorneys who are following this case have mentioned, is that for the Ohtani camp to come out this strongly, alleging things this way, they must feel fairly confident in their evidence.
Now, it's not like -- because the legal exposure he would face is - - for gambling, even legal gambling, is probably less significant than what he might face for potentially perjury, which, again, there's no evidence that he's committed that in any sort of way.
But it's by committing strongly to a story, that suggests that his legal camp feels confident in the evidence they have.
We're just going to have to see how it shakes out.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Andy McCullough of "The Athletic," thank you so much for helping us wade through all of this.
ANDY MCCULLOUGH: Yes, thank you for having me.
