This just doesn't add up for me.
What kind of bookie would allow someone making 80k / year to rack up 4.5M in debt? If the interpreter forged something, lied and told them Ohtani was making the bets when he wasn't, which could maybe explain Ohtani paying the debt to make a potential problem with bad people go away, why were they so friendly in the dugout after that had supposedly happened? Also, if that was true, wouldn't it make sense to immediately call your lawyer for options first (who would almost certainly not recommend any kind of direct course of action to something illegal that could be tied back to you)?
It makes a lot more sense to me that the interpreter was doing so under Ohtani's direction. Both probably assumed it was legal and therefore didn't try to hide any transactions. Now that they find out it isn't, they're trying to come up with a way out. Who knows if that's true or not, but the story is changing more frequently than Preller makes trades.