An American reporter who spoke to Ippei Mizuhara, who served as Shohei Otani's exclusive interpreter, on the phone twice before and after he was fired, responded to an interview with NHK and revealed the exchange.
The reporter for the interview was Tisha Thompson of the American sports channel ESPN.
Regarding the first interview conducted on the 19th, reporter Thompson said, ``Otani, who agreed to pay Mr. Mizuhara's debt, logged into his computer and made the first remittance, and according to the bookmaker's instructions, he made the initial remittance. Mr. Mizuhara explained in detail that he was watching from the side as he typed ``loan.''
The next day, after Mr. Mizuhara was fired from the Dodgers, reporter Thompson interviewed Mr. Mizuhara again by phone.
Regarding the second phone interview, reporter Thompson said, ``Mr. Mizuhara didn't want to say anything at first, so I read out the comments from Otani's lawyer and asked him, ``What happened?'' ``Yesterday's interview... ``Did you lie to me?'' and he answered ``Yes.'''' Mr. Mizuhara revealed that he had reversed his explanation from the previous day, saying that Otani did not know about the gambling debt and had not paid it. Did.
Reporter Thompson also commented on the Major League Baseball Organization's investigation, saying, ``At the very least, an investigation by a federal government agency is underway, and an investigation by the Major League Baseball Organization, which is very important to players including Ohtani, has also begun. "We don't know, but in addition to this, there is the potential for other law enforcement agencies to investigate possible embezzlement, fraud, or theft."