The developments of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani addressing the gambling debt controversy that has rocked baseball over the last week have shrouded the entire situation with mystery. And the general sentiment coming out of his Monday press conference, one in which he did not answer questions but instead read a prepared statement, was that he didn’t offer much more clarity.

To be quite sure, we didn’t learn that much. The majority of what Ohtani said — and that was translated by new interpreter, Will Ireton — simply reiterated reports that were already out there from Ohtani’s camp. Former translator Ippei Mizuhara stole $4.5 million to pay off a gambling debt from an illegal bookmaker, Ohtani had no knowledge of these dealings, and he was shocked that a close friend would do that to him.

However, the manner in which Ohtani addressed all of this may actually hold more water than people realize.

Rob Friedman, better known as Pitching Ninja on social media, broke down the situation from a legal perspective. Ohtani flat-out accused Ippei Mizuhara of stealing from him while denying his involvement. As such, the decision to levy those accusations on his former translator, if he weren’t being truthful, would open him up to libel or a number of other potential instances of criminal or civil litigation.