LOS ANGELES — Facing a packed room of reporters, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani gave prepared remarks Monday in an attempt to shed light on the accusations that his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, engaged in a "massive theft" of the ballplayer's funds to place bets with an illegal bookmaker, saying he was "saddened and shocked" by the revelations.

"I never bet on baseball or any other sports and have never asked someone to do so on my behalf and have never bet through a bookmaker," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton, who was sitting to the two-way star's right during the news conference at Dodger Stadium. "Until a couple of days ago, I didn't know this was happening. … Ippei has stolen money from my account and told lies."

Ohtani detailed that he was unaware Mazuhara had a gambling problem until there was a team meeting following Wednesday's game against the Padres in Seoul.

"Ippei admitted that he had used my account to pay off the debt," Ohtani said. "At that point I went to my representatives, who found out Ippei had been lying the whole time."

During various points in the 15-minute news conference, in which he took no questions from reporters, Ohtani expressed shock and dismay, a point he underlined before exiting.

"In conclusion, I want to say I have never bet on sports or used a bookmaker. I am beyond shocked. It's really hard to verbalize how I'm feeling at this point. The season is gonna start so will let my lawyers handle matters from here on out."

Ohtani's remarks — his first public comments since The Times first reported on the scandal last Wednesday — came after a week of intense public speculation regarding the allegations his camp had made against Mizuhara, and conflicting stories both parties had offered to ESPN in the lead-up to Mizuhara's firing.

A day before The Times' story was published, Mizuhara gave an on-the-record interview to ESPN, which was also investigating connections law enforcement authorities had found between Ohtani and Matthew Bowyer, the alleged Orange County bookmaker who has been the subject of a federal probe.

In that interview, which ESPN said was facilitated by an unnamed "crisis-communications spokesman" for Ohtani, Mizuhara initially claimed that Ohtani was not only aware of his interpreter's gambling habits, but had paid off Mizuhara's gambling debts to Bowyer, supposedly making the wire transfers himself to one of Bowyer's associates.

"Obviously, (Ohtani) wasn't happy about it and said he would help me out to make sure I never do this again," Mizuhara told ESPN last Tuesday, while clarifying that Ohtani had not made any bets himself. "He decided to pay it off for me."

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