Major League Baseball issued a statement today, which reads as follows: “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhari [sic] from the news media. Earlier today, our Department of Investigations (DOI) began their formal process investigating the matter.”
Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and friend, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday. Reports had emerged which connected Mizuhara to an illegal gambling operation in California, where sports betting is not legal. Per those reports, over $4.5MM was wired from an account in Ohtani’s name to the gambling ring. Mizuhara and a spokesperson for Ohtani initially told ESPN that the debts were Mizuhara’s and Ohtani sent the money to help his friend pay them off. But attorneys representing Ohtani later claimed that the player had been “the victim of a massive theft.”
The league opening an investigation was inevitable. Even if Mizuhara was the only one involved, there would be serious grounds for concern. All MLB players and employees are prohibited from betting on baseball, given their access to information that may not be public. They can bet on sports other than baseball and Mizuhara insists that he never did bet on baseball, but the connection to an illegal operation under federal investigation makes it a different matter.
The fact that the sport’s biggest star is involved only gives the league further grounds to look into it. To this point, there’s been nothing to suggest that Ohtani himself did any betting. Per the initial reporting from earlier this week, multiple sources asserted that Ohtani does not gamble. But multiple wire transfers in his name to an illegal operation under federal investigation was clearly going to be grounds for the league to take a look. As recently pointed out by Craig Calcaterra at Cup of Coffee, Ohtani may have violated federal laws and/or league rules just by wiring the money, even if he did no gambling whatsoever.
Per T.J. Quinn of ESPN, the league is expected to request interviews with all parties, including both Ohtani and Mizuhara, though “officials will have no way to compel Mizuhara’s cooperation since he no longer works for baseball.” Quinn adds that Ohtani will have a right to refuse as a member of the MLBPA.
In terms of organizations outside the league, Quinn adds that neither the California Bureau of Investigation nor the FBI are investigating. Stephen Wade, Tong-Hyung Kim and Stefanie Dazio of The Associated Press reported earlier today that Mizuhara is being criminally investigated by the IRS.
And here we go
Ippei-ki-yay
We’re going to learn he’s got an account at Bet365.
Then what? They run advertising DURING THE GAMES suggesting everyone bet on games.
This is ridiculous.
But you just made that up, right?
Bro sit this one out. Doyer fans been obnoxious laughing at everyone dishing it out for eons. Now it’s time for you to take it like a man.
Gambling is illegal in Ca.
Holding people accountable for breaking laws is never ridiculous.
Vegas is an hour away by plane had ippei or ohtani wanted to place bets they could have done so legally there.
Why didn’t they? Well Vegas records what you bet on. Like baseball games.
FI bitter much? Dishing what out? Because they’re committed to winning? Please.
California coukd give two shytes about criminal activity in general, so nothing Burger with sauce.
$700M shot to hell…and Wander boy thought he had problems! Ahahaha!
You know it’s funny…you demand law and order, and when someone tries to hold someone accountable, it’s a nothing burger. So which is it?
And I’m assuming you’re referring to all the retail theft. Maybe the better question for you Republicans is why you get all upset when your economic policies are essentially give all the money to a handful of people, the wealth never trickles down, and when the choices are starve or steal, it’s on the starving person, not the person who put them there.
And before you try to play the old “get a job” routine…you offshored all the jobs, and gutted cities, just to save more on taxes. So skip it.
Me?
I actually demand equal treatment under the law.
For example you’d be doing prison time for illegally gambling but rich people aren’t held to that same standard.
Little bit different than law and order.
Far as “politics” nobody is ever held accountable for anything democrat or republican.
Hilary was never held accountable for Benghazi
Bush was never held accountable for weapons of mass destruction
Obama was never held accountable for war crimes and stealing money for Haiti
Nobody is ever held accountable in politics. On either side. They’re all criminals. Yes even democrats.
Hahaha NJbirdsfan get off your high horse bro what a straw man comment
Nice try teenager. The biggest and richest donors to politicians are Democrats. Happy with the way things are going, get into a politics chatroom. Let’s stick to baseball.
Touche
Easy
You left off a politician who was not held accountable for January 6th
MVP does not speak for most Padre fans
Especially democrats lol
Duck da fodgers
So they sell food at the apple store, footlocker and Gucci stored?
Those thieves your defending aren’t stealing food.
Bucker….these bets were places with an illegal booking in CA where sports gambling is illegal. There’s wire transfers.
Mister Falcon
Bro!!!! Brilliant. I thought no one remembered that.
The let the Astros off with a slap on the wrist. What they did arguable caused more damage to players like Judge (snubbed if MVP) and other guys careers.
Ohtani should be scotch free by those standards.
MLB could not place any penalty on the Astros players because that offense was not in the CBA at the time. There was no crime to penalize so there was no penalty. All of that has to be collectively bargained ahead of time.
They could on people the team employed and on the team and they gave the maximum penalty the agreement between the owners allowed for.
The rules in this case have been on the MLB books for over 100 years and in the CBA since the very first one over 50 years ago.
Not trying to be grammar police but it’s actually “scot free”. In medieval England there was a tax called a “scot”. Some were able to avoid it and were “scot free”.
Thanks grammar police
I will take free scotch. Can I have a 20 year unblended Glenlivet?
Just be happy with that series split in Korea. I don’t expect it to be that close between the Dodgers and Padres this season.
He was being the ignorance police, and you are guilty as charged.
We all know what the problem with Scotland is.
You thinking it’s all republicans fault when it’s democrats fault too but you’re so blinded by politics you refuse to see crimes committed by your own party cause you’re scared of some dude with a bad tan and hair style?
Kilts? Cause it sure ain’t the whiskey.
End democracy lol. Is that the new slogan?
Meanwhile the current admin ships off billions of US tax dollars to foreign countries and you can’t afford groceries or gas. Democracy!
Both suck.
And wasn’t it the current admins that forced people to take a shot that did not work as intended with threats of job loss and fired federal employees for not complying with their insane mandates who they were forced to hire back and will be forced to pay back pay for wrongful termination?
How’s that democracy? Seems very totalitarian
“The vaccine is one of the greatest achievements of mankind,” Trump told conservative commentator Candace Owens in an interview on Wednesday. …
“I came up with a vaccine, with three vaccines all are very, very good,” Trump said in the interview, referring to the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots.
nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-renews-pra…
Sure. Who forced people into taking it?
We are talking about democracy here. Forcing people to do something under threat of retaliation for not doing so isn’t democracy. It’s coerced obedience.
I can’t defy the laws of physics.
Get down with your bad self.
Yes insane mandates. Take this or you lose your job was by far and away an insane approach. Funny you mention Germany cause they also used that tactic on the Jewish in concentration camp. Used them as human guinea pigs except if they refused they died.
Did C19 go away? No. Despite multiple promises of a cure all it never happened. Nobody mandates a therapeutic to help symptoms. There’s a reason polio shots are mandated for school. They work as intended. There’s a reason they backed off mandates for c19. They didn’t work. You know what other shots aren’t mandated? Cold and flu cause it doesn’t stop it you can still get it, like c19
So you want orange man bad held accountable but not Ray Epps who engaged in far worse behavior than Trump did in regards to January 6th? Yeah sounds about right for someone incapable of looking past the political spectrum.
Nah, he’s scotch-taped to this.
Scotch free? Buck Weaver has been banned 120 years for knowing ABOUT the 1919 Scandal. Never took a dime
Did Padres2019 finally get banned?
Open shut case..Deferred money for a reason.
Maybe Shohei gave his password to Ippei so that he could buy Ashley Kelly a Porsche.
The wire transfers were before that?
Next try!
There goes the dodgers season
It’s just a DH, they will call up someone from the minors who will hit 25 home runs.
10 seconds later…
MLB: We found nothing!
LAPD internal affairs involved?
Lol, facts
Definitely how it is going to go. Bauer was public enemy number one and Ohtani is the leagues cash cow, these two investigations are going to be handled very differently.
Next from MLB “we are re-instating Rose”
Username checks out.
Stan Lee that’s because Ohtani never questioned the league. If you are correct, and I believe you are, the fans should not stand for it.
@I.M. Insane Was Bauer not a Dodger when they suspended him?
Pete Rose, Charlie Hustle, was the all time hits leader, and the All-American face of the game. He didn’t get a slap on the wrist. Lets wait til we see what happens.
Different era. The commissioners office had some class then, he wasn’t a puppet of the large markets like now.
From Bud Selig on, the “best interests of baseball” became non-existent.
@I.M Insane that would be a slippery slope for the MLB. First name comes to mind with similar betting and ban, Pete Rose. Pete Rose was a lot more established than Ohtani. Rose is banned still.
Rose was also a sex predator who as a married 34 year old with two kids slept with a 15 year old girl and says he thought she was 16 at the time.
But look, let’s see if the “interpreter” bet on baseball or just other sports. If there was betting on baseball there should be a suspension regardless of if they can prove whether it was Shohei or Ippei.
But even if Ohtani was simply helping out his friend who had gambling problems, that isn’t the same as another ex-major leaguer bullying women, assaulting them, and then lying about it.
Why a suspension? There is ZERO evidence that points towards Ohtani. If some bookie said, “Yeah, Ohtani lays on occasional bet with me.” Okay. Now you have grounds for a suspension. Otherwise, no. Bauer was NOT suspended because someone accused his friend of sexually assaulting a woman. HE was accused. God, people are just out for blood with Ohtani.
@Ubaldo Jimenez Sex predator? That’s slander!
You mean other than Ohtani sending multiple payments to a bookie?
Seems like pretty solid evidence to me…
I really dont care about what happens, but I am sure Ohtani is in serious trouble.
Tom Brady was suspended for “more likely than not” knowing the balls were deflated a little….Ohtani is in a worse situation, gambling, with a paper trial and multiple admission of illegal acts and he probably lied.
Sorry, Ohtani is in trouble, not end of career trouble, but ruin your reputation trouble.
Really. I was under.the impression, Bauer was a dumb, not so savy person who was baited into that type of stuff, not by one person but a group of people.who have a common heritage and are anti Wasp. They were actual organized scammers and proud of that heritage. Jimenez is sexually battering Bauer. I lived in Madrid, before any extradition treaty with England. I had the very distastful and unfortuante experience of having to deal with people who cound not.go back to Ireland or Great Britain because of.the Belfast.thing. Very nasty people.who raised very nasty people. They are obsessed.
Calling a single.male sexual preditor in and of itself is sexual battery. I think the moron just wanted to get laid.
The Houston Astros. That investigation went into the season.
Pirate – You do realize Rose was also the manager at the time he was placing bets on his team …. right?
Comrade – Do you really not understand the chain of events with Ohtani? Or are you just a fanboy of his?
Comrade Tipsy McBlotto2 hours ago
There is ZERO evidence that points towards Ohtani.
=======================
Pssst. $4.5M worth of transfers from Ohtani’s accounts.
Ubaldo – this is a really dumb (and flat out wrong) assessment of both instances, yet you keep posting it. Bauer was ACCUSED and then proven to be innocent. Sure, he has some dispicable kinks but he didn’t do anything illegal. Seems like you don’t know what predator means…? And “Ohtani helping a friend” by paying a criminal bookie in a state where sports betting is illegal is a federal offense any way you slice it. The only way the Golden Goose wiggles out of this is if they can prove he was not involved and his best friend truly stole from him. But Ippi already blew that theory up with his first statement when he admitted Ohtani was knowingly paying off his debt. Brush up on the facts before you continue posting the same misinformation, please.
I really do wish Bauer would sue randos on the internet who refer to him as a “predator.” They probably don’t have enough money to be worth suing over though.
Fever….he bet on babseball not only as a manager but as a player/manager. Records (betting slips bookie records) showing it were uncovered in 2015
Consentual sex equals sex predator? Good stuff Ubaldo. Clearly you don’t understand baseball or what a sex predator is. You must believe anyone buying condoms at the local convenient store is a sex predator also. SMH…
Ubaldo is allergic to facts, holycow.
Ohtani changed his story. That is the first evidence of wrong-doing and he connected to every thing. Only a matter of time here unfortunately.
Jeremy- is it evidence though? Maybe he said that helped him first because he didn’t want his s best friend to get into worse trouble than he already was in and then changed his story to the truth because he realized he, himself was going to get into trouble had he stuck with that story.
I guess he would have to sue law enforcement in three different cities as well.
Some people have their own delusions that can’t be colored by facts. There are lots more reasons MLB is staying away than the general public knows, far more than one incident.
The Dodgers did not suspend him, the commissioner did, per the rules of the CBA. Everything that happened subsequently was per this process. The Dodgers had no involvement with it whatsoever, except for having to pay him a lot of money for not playing.
Insane
Give it up, no one wants a pitcher with a reputation for choking.
It’s happening
Nope, at my age eating dinner out suffices for foreplay
Like I said, no one wants a pitcher with a reputation for choking
@Ubaldo Jimenez…
“Bauer is, indeed, a sexual predator.”
How dare you call an innocent man a sexual predator. I hope he sues you next.
“Numerous accusations of going further than consent allowed.”
Keyword: accusations. I could “accuse” you of doing the same right now if I wanted to.
“… of which he was NOT ‘acquitted.'”
Yeah. He was BETTER than acquitted. The case was so weak the DA wouldn’t even file. He absolutely would have been acquitted if the DA had filed.
“Sounding pretty fascist…”
Anyone with $100 to waste and a ride to the court house can sue anyone for any reason at all here in the states.
Just face the fact, our country is under attack guided by Old World orientated people. Our country, the power structure, it’s people. A bunch of people are trying to make it about race. Who are they? It was absolutely questioned when this country was established.
Manny maybe at your age you should sit out adult conversations as you’ve shown you are incapable.
msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/ohtani-set-to-address-med…
Oh good. A link.
BTW you should identify with choking. You are a Cubs fan.
Two different issues, so I will address both.
1st Bauer
Bauer and his lawyer both admitted he beat and choked Hill. Whether it was consensual or not, he admitted committing the act. There were 2 other women that got restraining orders against him for the same thing.
The DA declined to press criminal charges because it was a he said, she said type of case and very, very few of those go to court. I remember reading in the LA times at the time that less than 10% are ever criminally charged. That sounds high to me. In San Diego county about 5% of reported sexual assault cases go to court.
That does NOT mean he was found innocent of sexual assault by a judge or jury in a court of law.
Bauer was found guilty on 3 counts, each with a different woman, of violating the MLB Domestic Violence Policy by MLB and by an independent arbitrator.
The only time he did go to court, Bauer lost the defamation case he filed against Deadspin. They found that Deadspin was in the right to say in their article that the doctors said she had been beaten to the point she had basilar facial fractures. Remember, Bauer had already admitted HE was the one that beat her.
Bauer had 3 women file for a restraining order and 2 won that order. Not sure what your definition of predator is, but if multiple women file for a restraining order against you, that is a predator to me.
Now about Ohtani.
Regardless of whether he was doing it to cover his own gambling debts or to pay off his interpreter’s gambling debts, Ohtani likely committed wire fraud, a federal offense punishable by up to a 20 year jail sentence per charge.
For transfers from a personal bank account, Its practically impossible for anyone to make a wire transfer of over $10,000 without the account holders knowledge and active participation in the transfer. That means that at the very least, Ohtani knew about and helped Mizuhara(sp?) make the transfers and that is a crime.
One of the things that has to be done is make a detailed report about the reason for the wire transfer. The claim by Ohtani’s camp originally that it was for a “loan” is not enough. What was the loan to purchase? Who is the lender? What is their CA license? The bank will require all that information and more. https://www.fincen.gov has information on exactly what is required in that disclosure.
Banks also have the information available in Japanese so Ohtani could read exactly what he was filling out and attesting to. Remember, the bank is liable for illegal activities that are facilitated by wire transfers. They can get extremely large fines for each transfer if its found out to be for illegal activities, so you have to tell them exactly what the transfer is for and they are diligent in acquiring that information. That means that Ohtani or Mizuhara or both lied in filling out that form. That constitutes wire fraud.
As I noted above, wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years per count and as others have noted, the federal sentencing guidelines call for 66 months per count the defendant is convicted on. Often the sentences are served concurrently, so even if its 9-10 or even 15 counts, it could all be served at the same time. The minimum is 5.5 years in jail.
The total dollar amount of wire transfers was “over $4.5 million with the largest transfers being $500k. That means a minimum of 9 wire transfers over a 3 year period. That constitutes a pattern of fraud and a court is not going to go easy on the perpetrator of repeated crimes.
All of this is to say that its not something that MLB can minimize and Ohtani is in deep trouble if its found he is in any way part of making the wire transfers. It will be extremely hard to prove that his interpreter had the kind of access to make those transfers without Ohtani’s participation.
Personally, I don’t believe any bookie that is taking high enough dollar bets for a gambler to run up $500k+ debts at a time and over $.5 million in total would do so without knowing exactly what the income level is of the person making the bets. They would want to know you have the means to cover your bets since they are basically extending a loan to you.
Mizuhara was making a reported $80k from the Angels during the time the gambling was going on. He was hired at $300k by the Dodgers when Ohtani was signed by them. Maybe he was being paid separately by Ohtani in addition to what the Angels were paying him, I don’t have any indication of that or information to say he wasn’t. Maybe he was making $300k total during that 2021-2023 time frame.
I believe that Ohtani was the one making the bets and Mizuhara was just the bet runner, just like Rose had multiple bet runners including Tommy Gioiosa and Michael Bertolini. That is just my opinion and because of the federal investigation of the matter, the truth will come out.
It’s not “he said she said” if the DA has video of Bauer committing acts that the law does not recognize the other person’s ability to consent to. Which is what Hill is alleging is the case.
MLB doesn’t find people “guilty” of anything.
Not even being charged is better, at least from a defendant’s point of view, than being charged but acquitted. Not worse. So saying “That does NOT mean he was found innocent of sexual assault by a judge or jury in a court of law” isn’t exactly an argument against Bauer. The DA 100% would have charged him if they thought they *might* have gotten a conviction.
@Ubaldo Jimenez Well according to you and the other Lindsey Hill simps on here they DA has a smoking gun on Bauer and didn’t charge him because “reasons” as if a liberal LA county DA isn’t licking his chops at the prospect of taking down a high profile celebrity.
Restraining orders are a whole separate beast and have an even lower burden of proof than a civil case. The league investigation doesn’t prove anything either seeing as other players have been suspended for doing less than Bauer.
@Ubaldo Hope Lindsey Hill sees this bro!
@Ubaldo Can’t wait until Bauer sues your behind.
In your dreams.
Punishment will be deferred.
Like, maybe because there is nothing on Ohtani?
Calm down Comrade. We simply don’t know that yet.
Wishfull thinking.
Based on past precedent shouldn’t he be suspended pending the outcome of said investigation?
He should be suspended with pay until it’s sorted out simply because his camp and ippei have already admitted on record he’s involved in a crime by wiring TWO installments of 500,000 to a bookie from his account.
Aiding and abetting illegal gambling is also a crime in CA.
To wire that much money at once no way ohtani was unaware. Moving that much cash could require account holder approval.
Ah, but he retracted that comment, didn’t he?
Ah, his bank account still showed up twice on a bookies ledger involving two wire transfers of 500,000 a piece.
Federal law requires banks to report more than 10,000 worth of money moving to the IRS and bank regulation limit withdraws you can make without further approval from account holders.
Ah, I was just pointing that out. Personally, I agree with you. He’s guilty as hell.
Ah
It is not clear to me that Shohei authorized the first statement, it could have been authorized by Ippei.
And you think that is credible?
yeah and he has accountants who I hope reconcile his bank accounts… regardless if he has a couple hundred million, wire transfers are kinda hard to ignore if you reconcile bank accounts
According to some very smart people
Ohtani willingly gave his interpreter access to his bank account information, logins, account numbers routing numbers, etc cause reasons.
Cause you know
Your family friends employees have that information right?
And ohtani was completely unaware 4,500,000 dollars was missing and was never alerted in any way shape or form about it until the espn interview
Just speculating. Maybe the interpreter had access to Ohtani’s cell phone and he used it to text or email Ohtani’s accountants telling them to send the money to the bookie. He then erases it from the phone and when Ohtani finds out he says the money was stolen from him.
And why would there be an ESPN interview to begin with? Especially with these lines of questions?
Sounds like someone was tipped off to federal investigations that have been ongoing and are trying to spin this story and create a much disinformation as possible to protect the golden boy.
Makes the deferred deal seem super reasonable and financially savvy for both parties if dealing with a degenerate gambler, doesn’t it?
You think a rather large red flag would not go up for those accountants upon receiving that request?
This happened from 2021 through the beginning of the 2023 season. Ohtani had earned a total of $9.695 million in MLB and $32.5 million in endorsements before taxes, agent fees, and expenses to that point in his career. $4.5 million represents more than 10% of his gross income.
True but don’t forget his earnings in Japan.
Norm MacDonald voice: Also don’t forget his winnings from illegal gambling. Allegedly.
True, could easily amount to another couple of thousand.
I don’t buy it. A reputable bank would have notified Ohtani of that large sum of money being withdrawn from his bank account just to ensure he wasn’t being scammed
Maybe a few hundred here and there but 4.5 million dollars?
Who does he bank with?
Moe, Larry and Curly Financial?
He made just under $3 million total in Japan. Coming to MLB made Ohtani into a cash cow and that didn’t really start until 2023 after most of this happening.
Or Ohtani is using it as “Plausible deniability”…
My Maserati does 185
i lost my license, now I don’t drive
Suit, if you’ve ever wired large sums of money there’s a LOT more involved than just shooting off a text.
You are correct about that. If you think 2-step verification is a pain, try wiring more than $10k.
There are federal forms that have to be signed under the BSA and its reported to the IRS. The bank has to must submit a Currency Transaction Report, which includes details about the parties involved and why you are transferring the money.
The law is there to prevent money laundering and other criminal activities so its not just “hey, I will click this button on your phone when the bank notifies you and the transfer will go through”.
If it is from a business, it might be easier, but from an individual’s account its an involved process.
As an accountant, you can absolutely grant ppl access to your accounts to move that much money without owner approval.
For someone worth as much as Ohtani is, it’s not hard to believe that this could go unnoticed by Shohei.
Do I believe he didn’t know about it? Absolutely not. But the amount doesn’t matter and wouldn’t be a red flag in and of itself. Wires of this size are made constantly at large banks, and pretty regularly at small banks as well.
I imagine, given their close relationship, that Ohtani would have made Ippshit an authorizer on some of his accounts.
Ohtani willingly talked to his bank, said this individual who is at best a friend is approved to take out 1 million dollars, or 500,000 once every 6 months for instance for whatever reason no questions asked?
Yeah that’s a bit of a stretch. Even multi millionaire aren’t going to give someone that kind of unrestricted access to pull such large sums out whenever they feel like it for whatever reason.
Especially since, for this very reason, you can be involved in a crime.
I agree on the face of your argument.
But a translator is not someone who fits the profile of being in charge of any of my money.
A translator would be at the top of the list of someone who could potentially rip me off and would get a paycheck, a 1099 and an ear to talk into.
Nothing else.
Lawyers, financial institutions, accountants would be on charge of that, with another third party to forensically audit everything in
Perpetualality .
Especially if I’m just a baseball player with a billion dollars coming my way.
Currently the narrative is ippei stole from ohtani
If he was given access then it’s not stealing ippei was allowed to do so, wire out large sums, which undermines the whole narrative they’re trying to create which is ohtani was unaware and ippei stole for him.
So no I don’t believe at any point ippei was given that much power over the accounts. And ohtani was made aware of it by default of large sums being moved.
But unless these types of transfers were normal for him wouldnt his accountant have raised some sort of alarm? Or at least questioned it
Pool: I would hope so. I was just speculating as unbelievable things can happen.
and remember wire transfers have to list the account holder, so his accountant would see $500,000.00 to “whatever” & a brief description must be attached… either lots of Shohei’s people were in on the stealing or Shohei knew all about it
I imagine, given their close relationship, that Ohtani would have made Ippshit an authorizer on some of his accounts.
========================
Why? This is not like a credit card where your employees can charge $10-20k for convenience, What would the benefit be for allowing your interpreter to wire $500K?
As an account or financial manager for company, it’s easier for them to embezzle from their employer because they control the books and would have better chance hiding their nefarious acts.
Professional athletes have teams of accountants to manage their financial affairs due to the millions of dollars involved. On top of their federal tax returns, they have to also file state tax returns for every state they play a game.
Ohtani showed his financial acumen when it came out during contract negotiations that the money deferrals was his idea.
I can’t believe anyone would give his buddy access to all of their millions. If you have millions and want to help your buddy to pay off illegal gambling debts, and being in the position/stature he is, why wouldn’t he give a ‘loan’ directly to his buddy. Then let the buddy payoff whomever he owes the money to from his own bank account?
Lawyers, financial institutions, accountants would be on charge of that,
=========================
None of them would have access either, not like this. I can wire money, but my boss has to release it. He can wire money, but his boss would have to release it. Monthly statements get sent out. Accountants prepare reports.
Doesn’t everybody remember he had a wife? Forget about bosses and accountant, you try to systematically displace $4.5MM via wire from anybody with a wife without her knowing or asking her husband questions about it and tell me how that goes….
Well that;s another story. Seems he married during the off season. When did the feds start investigating the illegal book maker?
Maybe you give that access to your accountant or financial manager. What legitimate reason would require your interpreter to have access?
They arrested the bookie in October of 2023.
Maybe Ippei has the account information because he communicates in English with Shohei’s money managers.
I’m not buying it, but that’s the best story I’ve got if I’m his attorney.
Well, as a former banker, I can assure you that there are multiple controls over wires of this sort. High profile clients like Shohei are even coded in banking systems to get extra attention and scrutiny with transactions and only certain people in the bank can even see their accounts.
There is a less than zero possibility that his interpreter wired money out of his account without multiple controls including callbacks, positive identification, RSA key entry among others.
Ohtani initiated and sent those wires. Otherwise the bank has massive criminal liability for his friend doing so. Ohtani doesn’t realize that he has accused his friend AND his bank of major crimes. It won’t take long to find out he’s lying and then it’s all over for him.
He has a Japanese wife. That’s a very different thing than a US wife.
I bet that he has a prenuptial agreement
Yeah, Cards, I know. I was just kidding around. Or maybe I was projecting…lol.
As an accountant you certainly know about the Banking Secrecy Act of 1970 and about the process anyone has to go through to wire transfer more than $10k. How the transaction is reported to the IRS and how the bank is responsible for making sure that the transfer is not part of an illegal act, oh like GAMBLING in California.
Pads, I believe that the IRS is the only federal agency involved at the moment. Apparently, this is just a thread in a bigger investigation about bookmaking that has also involved Yasiel Puig in another thread. Uncle Sam wants his taxes.
This may have been tried by Shohei but Ippei, the self professed gambling addict, kept using the funds to just get in deeper. Everybody knows what happens if you don’t pay your bookie so it got down to paying directly because Ippei was not to be trusted to do it. Unfortunately, doing it this way is a violation of MLB regulations. To absolve Shohei of any blame, Ippei has to say he committed theft. Anything less could mean suspension for Shohei. At least MLB is not a court of law. Good Intentions and Ignorance of the Law can fly if MLB wants them to.
Paying those illegal gambling debts by Ohtani wouldn’t just violate MLB rules. It’s a felony. It’s either proven to be theft or Ohtani is a felon. The skeptic in me says that realization by Ohtani is why the story changed. The MLB investigation is secondary to Ohtani’s future. He better hope the corrected story is the truth.
I feel that the primary motive for Shohei to make those series of payments was to stop a visit from Rocky Balboa to Ippei’s house if the money didn’t flow. It is possible that Shohei was never schooled in the fine print clauses of the document about gambling before spring training every year. Maybe all he knew is Don’t Bet On Baseball. I, myself, sign SOME documents without reading or pondering the legalese of the fine print. It could be that Ippei didn’t translate all that fine print and explain what it all meant for seven springs in a row.
I understand the desire to seek reasons Ohtani may have unknowingly committed a federal law violation; but in law, and per the law, ignorance of the law (for whatever reason) is no excuse.
I do feel that Ohtani was probably trying to do the right thing by his friend if he did wire those transfers. But, it’s an irrelevant fact as far as a violation is concerned.
I and I’m sure many more people would more respect for ohtani if he actually stuck with the first version of the story. Remorse and motive go a long way if you’re an accessory to a crime.
“Yes my close friend came to me and said he was in a huge gambling debt and in fear of his life and mine
I thought the best course of action was to forgive his debts for him for his safety and mine
I did not know him gambling was against the law here in America. I never gambled never made bets. Just made arrangements to help my close friend before something serious happened. We are making arrangements to get him help with his gambling addiction.”
And I’m sure the legal process would take kindly on his generosity and do a fine or something minimal
If that’s actually truly what happened.
But now they’re playing games trying to hide and change narratives and it’s not a good look for them.
You are right Clipper but I am referring to MLB law which has its own rules and justifications for its rulings. MLB is not a court of law with strict precedents. It is a definite violation of MLB rules to send money to an unlicensed betting organization for any purpose. As far as federal violations, IRS is the only agency involved at the moment. So far, it’s just a money crime with possible tax implications. The feds don’t bust the players. They want the bookie chain and how these guys use casinos to lay off bets.
Yes, Jack, my apologies. I did misinterpret which system to which you were referring. I agree, MLB can take into consideration any and all mitigating factors and apply them however they wish, so long as they don’t violate employment law or the CBA. Valid point.
That’s why people with that kind of money hire very good attorneys and do nothing of importance without talking to those attorneys.
His agency is Japanese, so no interpreter needed and I would assume any legal documents presented to him to sign were in Japanese or had a transcript in Japanese at the least.
If it is indeed the truth, it would be best to just own it and move on. He will get a year suspension and we will all forgive and forget.
If he is lying through his teeth, it will be discovered eventually and he shouldn’t get any white glove treatment, throw the book at him.
Is it all under the same procedures as CDV?
Fun fact about the law
Unknowingly participating in a crime doesn’t protect you from ramifications or punishment.
And if ohtani gave him access the whole “he stole from me” is a lie. He didn’t steal anything. Which is the current version of the narrative.
What? I’m asking is if someone is accused of CDV they get suspended while MLB does their thing. Is it the same for an investigation into gambling or other crimes?
Sorry reply went to wrong person
And it’s more who did it than what they did
By all accounts Bauer is a grade A hole so I doubt there was much hesitation suspending a dude who throws balls over fences cause he’s mad.
“Fun fact about the law…Unknowningly participating in a crime doesn’t protect you”…That’s not 100% true at all, because there’s a whole category of crimes known as scienter crimes where prosecutors have to prove you knew a crime was being committed. The most commonly known type of these crimes is “receiving stolen goods”, where it has to be PROVEN you either knew or should have known you were committing a crime. You cannot be convicted of “receiving stolen goods” if it’s established you didn’t know(or had no reason to know)the goods were stolen.
Reread what I said
It doesn’t protect you. Thats fact. To charge you or not charge you is up to prosecutors, the law itself doesn’t provide protections at all.
Unknowingly participating doesn’t protect you and yes you can still have charges brought against you even if you unknowingly participate in a crime.
“It doesn’t protect you”…Not knowing a crime is being committed is actually a fairly good defense, my friend. In criminal law it could be the difference between being sentenced at the high range of sentences, the low range of sentences or being completely exonerated. And in civil law not knowing could be the difference between a $500,000 judgment against you or your company or a $5,000,000 judgment against you or your company. Why do you think Ohtani’s story has flipped between him first having knowledge of the situation and then, when his lawyers are involved, he suddenly had ZERO knowledge of the situation and was robbed by his interpreter?
Law as it is written doesn’t provide protections. Law as it is written says you committed a crime. Very few instances do laws as written say “charge them unless they didn’t know then they’re not in trouble”
That’s for prosecutors to determine.
Prosecutors decided if you should or should not be charged.
The law itself as it is written does not protect you. You can and will be charge if a prosecutor decides to so, even if you unknowingly participate.
Good example.
They changed their story to money was stolen ohtani had no clue because…….if ippei said yes ohtani gave me money but didn’t know about my gambling problems or me paying off debts he could still be considered an accomplice even though he’s unknowingly participating.
They’d have a lot of question asking why he gave such huge sums
There’s a reason they’re going with stolen and unknowing vs gave it ippei and didn’t know why ippei needed the money.
For this exact reason.
He could still get in trouble in the 2nd scenario.
Easy, that is entirely what RICO laws are about. You don’t have to know what the overriding crime was to be charged as a co-conspirator for your part in it,. Even if you didn’t know that what you were doing was a crime.
Oddly enough gambling falls under RICO laws
Easy
I think you are mistaken. If I give my girlfriend my ATM card and the PIN number so she can withdraw 20 for gas- and then a week later she withdraws 1000 without my consent, I believe that would comprise theft.
Manny, I think that actually, your GF using your ATM and PIN, even for $20, would be technically illegal on it’s own. No one gets charged for doing that, because there’d be zero complaints. But, if she took 1K you’d complain, and you’re right, there’d be grounds for her being charged.
If you give your girlfriend your debit card and pin number, good luck on the charges and getting your money back!
Yeah, but…
will be interesting to see how much effort they put into this … there is no way that Shohei would not be aware of wires from his account of this magnitude.
Of course not. But it sounds like the interpreter is taking the bullet for his pal.
I’m sure he will be well reimbursed once he starts making real coin.
Deferred. Figures.
I believe at $7,500 the federal laundering system is triggered. He would have been notified personally of the suspicious activity in his account. This doesn’t add up. It’s going to get ugly.
I think it is $10,000 now but yes, it triggers a suspicious activity report.
It’s certainly a quantum level past the threshold for sure.
I’m going with Ohtani knew and tried to help his friend. Which was the original story. I get it, if true. But that’d still come with consequences. I doubt the Feds would have major interest in him unless they find they need to be. But we might see some names pop up in the bookies seized records.
CBA violation here is a season suspension. The damage to Ohtani is done in the public mind. Fans will taunt the Astros after the last player from those teams has gone along. Public perception matters to branding.
Again, MLB has the PR capacity of metal in a microwave.
Dock, that last statement was a great description, and might even be an understatement.
As one who worked in MiLB, I have always said MLB teams could learn something from how minor league teams have to promote in order to survive.
Interesting, Reds. Can you elaborate on how MLB could learn from MiLB? What work did you do?
Lawyer’s up and we have a paid off fall guy!!
Ippei was paid off when he thought the narrative was going to be that Ohtani simply paid off his gambling debts. Now that they’re accusing Ippei of theft, I’d wager he’s not going to be as eager to take the fall
If the translator was getting his gambling debt paid off, how did he intend on paying the tax penalties associated with such a large gift from Ohtani?
18-40% in gift tax. That is twice Mazahura’s annual income at a minimum.
Just realized, the donor pays the gift tax unless the IRS counts it as income.
The money is described as a “loan” by the sender, Otani. It’s not described as a gift even though logic says it’s a gift. How’s Ippei supposed to pay back 4.5 million? It was never going to happen.
Mazahura is facing a very long prison sentence if convicted on wire fraud which is the most serious of the charges he could be brought up on.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, wire fraud is a federal crime that carries a sentence of up to 20 years’ imprisonment and fines of up to $250,000 for individuals. This would be at least 9 counts since $500k is the largest transfer that was made in this case and it was at least $4.5 million..
Do you think that Mazahura will be willing to go to prison for the next 20 years to protect Ohtani?
Pads Fan – That 20 year sentence is the “up to” sentence with a lot of factors that go into the calculation. The fed system is a points based system. He has zero points for criminal history category assuming he has no criminal history. The offense level is probably low as a financial crime with no “victim” unless there was truly fraud or theft. Even then, it wouldn’t be like a drug case or crime of violence. Assuming he’s charged in the feds, if he pleads guilty he gets points off for acceptance of responsibility. If he cooperates he gets more reduction with a “5K” motion from the prosecutor. The counts will possibly combine for sentencing. Realistically, he would get anywhere from probation to up to 24 months maybe.
up to 20 years PER Count. There would be a minimum of 9 counts, possibly more.
The victim is Ohtani. He is the one asking law enforcement to look into the alleged theft.
Wire Fraud is one of the most serious financial crimes. The last one I saw of this magnitude, the perpetrator got 30 years.
Realistically he would get a minimum of the recommended sentencing guidelines which is 66 months per count if he pleads guilty.
@Pads Fan I hear you. The feds already nabbed their prize in Bowyer. Mazahura can be a cooperating witness and possibly not do time for multiple counts of wire fraud. However, he’ll also have to work out seperate agreements with the IRS and CA DA’s office if they opt to pursue charges, if any. The goal of the feds is to nail Bowyer and whomever his co-conspirators are running the gambling ops.
He can try to get an even better deal by cooperating and agreeing to testify in court against this Bowyer fellow. The feds will offer this if it ever gets that far.
That might be the Federal goal. But if there’s famous names involved. They’ll likely be outed. MLB will deal with disciplinarian infractions. I can’t hardly see Ohtani getting away clean on this. The Feds won’t care one iota about covering up a mess for baseball. It’s time for journalism to do its job.
Nah, like I said the counts would possibly combine at sentencing. For example, if a felon gets caught possessing a gun, a conviction of T18, USC 922g has a sentence of up to 10 years. If he gets caught with 10 guns, he isn’t exposed to up to 10 years times 10 counts. The counts combine at sentencing for one sentence of up to 10 years. Either way you slice it, even if he were sentenced to up to 20 years for 9 counts, the sentences would run concurrent, not consecutive.
The minimum sentencing guidelines is 66 months per count. That is 5.5 years if they DO allow him to serve the sentences concurrently. .
You ARE exposed to 10 counts for 10 guns. You may not get charged with 10 counts, but its possible. If there is a long history of crime or you lie to the prosecutors about your involvement they will hit you as hard as they are allowed to,
You CAN have the counts combined at sentencing, but they don’t HAVE to do so. Sometimes the judge rules that you can serve your sentences on separate charges concurrently, but not every time and they don’t HAVE to do it at all.
Wire fraud is considered one of the most serious of federal crimes, that is why the penalties are so severe, so its highly doubtful that someone with a 3 year history of violations for a total of over $4.5 million and that lied to investigators would get off easy regardless of who they are. Being a baseball player doesn’t help Ohtani in this case.
Deals can be made with the feds. Story time – I know a guy who created one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges. He also knowingly facilitated financial transactions for illicit goods/services on Silk Road, a defunct darkweb marketplace. His cooperation with the feds directly led to the collapse of Silk Road and its elusive founder’s arrest. The witness with no criminal background history was fined nominally and served only one year in federal prison. He was also allowed to keep the vast majority of his built wealth.
While these baseball guys may not have the dame kind of clout to help bring down such an enormous enterprise, prison time is not a given.
A former business partner was embezzling from the company that purchased my company and funneling it into his gambling on both stocks and sports. Not illegal gambling, legal gambling.
When he was caught the feds hit him with 24 counts of wire fraud for a total of $600k over a 4+ year period. He had no criminal background. As far as I know he had never even had a traffic ticket. He was squeaky clean.
He lied to the FBI and IRS investigators, so when he went to court it was on all 24 wire fraud charges. He was also hit with embezzlement and several other charges in state court in Georgia.
When he was convicted, the judge combined the wire fraud charges and he was sentenced to serve 11 years 6 months on the federal charges. I believe that he is eligible for parole after 36 months.
The use of crypto to facilitate financial transactions is far less regulated than bank wire transfers. That your friend was given a slap on the wrist is consistent with that fact.
So far, Ohtani and his camp have not been forthcoming about his involvement in the wire transfers and there is no indication he is cooperating as a witness in the case against Bowyer.
When he finds out the seriousness of what he is facing, he might change his tactics, but that is what we know as of today. If Ohtani lies to investigators when he is called in to speak to them, he will get hit with the maximum they can bring against him.
My friend didn’t lie and negotiated a deal. He was sentenced to two years I believe and barred from directly operating another exchange. He now works as an int’l industry consultant but lives in the States.
Pads – “The minimum sentencing guidelines is 66 months per count.”
There is no minimum mandatory sentence except for drug cases. Where are you getting your information because it seems very inaccurate.
A few phone calls can be made, and he will be sent back to Japan
Womp Womp
Ippie is nothing more than the fall guy! No translator would be able to establish a credit limit of 4.5M or even $500,000 with a yearly salary of no more than $200,000 after taxes. He probably booked Ohtani’s bets for him and the bookie knew Ohtani was the actual better! Nothing else would make since!
The questions that matter most are is gambling illegal where Ohtani placed his bets and did he place bets on baseball.. Apparently Mr. Clean Ohtani enjoys gambling!
Yep. There isn’t a bookie alive that would allow anyone to run up a 4.5M debt. Allowing that kind of credit requires due diligence to ensure that the person has the means to repay it.
Ohtahni deserves the same punishment as the hit king!
I’d rather just see rose in the hall
me too! its a disgrace how they treated pete (and shoeless joe if we’re on the topic)
but if pete is banned, so too should shohei. no special treatment
I’ll agree if it’s proven that any of the bets paid for by ohtani were on baseball. If they can’t prove there was a bet on baseball then no.
Decibel at the minimum should be suspended with pay as per the precedence they set with bauer among many others.
“It’s a disgrace how they treated Pete”…I’m a big Pete Rose guy and always have been, but it’s not a “disgrace” how Pete was treated at all. You simply cannot have the LEADER(Manager) of a Major League baseball team betting on baseball games(potentially which he has inside knowledge). Each situation is completely different and Pete was already given a chance to clear his name and did/could not. Ohtani will ostensibly be given the same chance and if he’s found to be in violation of MLB rules or Federal laws, he will almost certainly be punished accordingly. You simply cannot use any potential Ohtani transgressions, which have yet to be adjudicated, to justify what Pete Rose did, although one could argue a lifetime ban is excessive.
First of all it’s not a “lifetime” ban, it’s a “permanent” ban. Which means it outlives Pete Rose. Second, Pete got exactly what he deserves and if Othani bet on baseball he should receive the exact same punishment.
Shoeless Joe was also treated correctly.
Agreed
Bob
Key words “betting on baseball” deserves a permanent ban
Betting on boxing or the WNBA will get a slap on the wrist or be covered up and blamed on interpreter
Manny, the big No-No is betting with unlicensed, unregulated organizations. Going to Vegas or the dog track or an Indian casino or Draft Kings is perfectly fine for MLB people. Betting on anything with a bookie is a forbidden act.
Shoeless Joe took 20k to toss the series all while pulling up on balls in the OF according to Christy Matthewson who was watching for a fix.
The actual innocent party in all this is Buck Weaver. I did 8 weeks of major research into the Black Sox Scandal, and likely seen material the casual person has not. I came away feeling less for Comiskey and Joe Jackson. But with a true feeling that Buck Weaver was hung out to dry.
@elvis
Shoeless hit .375 while everyone else hit .100
Also he wasnt the brightest fella. Couldnt even sign his own name. No excuse just think he just went along with it not rly thinking about it. Anyhow, the black sox were all banned yet not a single astro got a slap on the wrist & the managers came back with jobs a yr later . there is a shameful disgraceful double standard in current MLB. And whatever the outcome of the investigation ohtani probably receives zero punishment because that’s the way it is. If you Pete rose you get permanently banned. If you’re Mr. 700 million everybody turns a blind eye.
I agree on the Astros. And I agree on Shoeless Joe too. He was ignorant. But he at first lied about the amounts. He admitted guilt in the grand jury testimony. Like I said I spent 8 solid weeks on that scandal. Joe accepted 20k, which is about 380K today. He’s one of the few players who actually got a dime.
I asked the same question as to his offense. He hit. How could he be losing games? The rumors of a fix were present before the series began. None other than Christy Mathewson sat with Hugh Fullerton…at Fullertons request…and was asked to keep track of any plays he deemed very suspicious in the field. He had many on Shoeless Joe. A hit is obvious. Knowing a LF pulled up on a ball in play is something the casual fan there might not have noticed. Christy Matthewson did.
The fact is Joe Jackson took 20k from gamblers. That doesn’t make him an evil person. But it’s fact by admittance. Comiskey treated those guys like crap. He should have been tossed out too!
But I’m VERY firm that Buck Weaver should have been let go and should be reinstated today.
The Mathewson-Fullerton scoring critique was depicted in that movie 8 Men Out. Fixing games had been a frequently recurring problem in baseball since the 1870s before the Black Sox. Ever since the iron fist came down with Landis, the incidents have become less frequent. Landis banned guys if they heard about the fix but failed to report it to team officials immediately which is what happened to Weaver I believe. But this latest gambling scandal is about violating a different MLB rule about using unlicensed sports book operations to place bets AKA bookies. If it doesn’t expand beyond that, MLB has dodged a disaster.
My entire issue in comparison is with the treatment of Buck Weaver. I’m not attempting to make an equivocal case for the Black Sox Scandal and Ohtani himself. Just the fact there’s precedent for a ban for simple knowledge of gambling elements. Personally, I’d consider (if true) committing wire fraud to settle a gambling debt a worse crime in baseballs eyes than anything Buck Weaver was guilty of. It’s a CBA violation punishable by a one year suspension. It seems a but ridiculous that Weaver remains banned after 120 years when he committed absolutely zero crime, or what would on the surface even seem like a commensurate act. That’s all I’m really getting at.
As to Eight Men out. Movie based off the book. There’s a LOT of details left out of both. I’d compare the Asinoff book to the Moneyball book. It’s a it of a narrative.
I’ve read more than 700 pages of legal documents on the case. Various depositions. Tons of interviews. There’s just so much left out of that and filtered through Eight Men out in the public mind.
Of course…it’s all my personal conclusions. But I found both Jackson and Comiskey guilty. The numbers in the Series for Joe don’t matter to the facts. I was prepared to go where the evidence took me. The information on the missing grand jury testimony is actually in Bill Veecks autobiography.
I came away feeling Weaver for shafted.
Im
Convinced they will reverse and induct rose..right after he passes so he cant enjoy/profit from it
I’ve been thinking same thing for years
The moment pete dies mlb decides “we’ve had a change of heart and want to honor the all time hit king”
They want him to suffer, which is insane
But also its been 35 yrs alreadt let the man in the HOF!
That isn’t how it works. MLB has nothing to do with who get in the HOF.
Yeah, well Shoeless Joe is still waiting so I wouldn’t bet on it. (See what I did there?)
But Ippei and Ohtani may be betting on Shoeless Joe on making it. How do you think they fell 4.5 million in the hole.
But Tulip and Puetenia are left to wait? Nah….
What Ohtani did, or didn’t do, is nt the same as what Rose did.
you’re right, its not the same
because rose was a manager and ohtani is a player. a player gambling on his own sport the worst thing you can possible do. worse than bonds taking PEDs. if ohtani actually bet on mlb, he should receive nothing less than lifetime ban, and he should be traded back to japan for a can of tuna fish
There’s a sign in the locker room stating exactly that. And I guarantee there was a Japanese language version of the sign in the angels clubhouse
If they find that Ohtani bet (even indirectly by paying off his interpreter’s gambling debt) on baseball he should be banned for life. At the moment baseball doesn’t seem to be a part of it.
I feel no need to get into Rose’s situation beyond saying I think he should remain banned.
Ju
“the same
because rose was a manager and ohtani is a player. a player gambling on his own sport the worst thing you can possible do. ”
Why is that worse than the manager?
The manager has arguably more ability to impact a game than a single player
Seems to me the starting pitcher and manager have the most impact
If he bet on games that he pitched that might top a manager, manager would top a position player
In any event, it should not take long to find out whether baseball was bet on or not
If he bet on mlb then a permanent ban
If he bet on sports other than mlb, 1 year suspension
Gambling’s illegal in CA. Thats a crime. Up to 6 months in jail. Giving him a Slap on the wrist is a slap in the face of the integrity of the game which has already been compromised
Bauer was a weirdo but never found guilty of any crime and he was suspended for like 2 yrs and never threw another major league pitch again
I guess no one here has read Pete Rose’s autobiography “My Prison Without Bars”. Rose himself admitted to repeatedly lying about his gambling and then finally confessed. By that time, it was already too late which he also acknowledges.
If the authorities conduct proper & fair investigation. Then ohtani might be going to a prison WITH bars
If Ohtani bet on baseball, I agree with the permanent ban
If Ippei bet on baseball, and Ohtani declines to be interviewed by MLB, some suspension is justified even with nothing more than circumstantial evidence
But if neither Ohtani nor Ippei bet in baseball, I doubt there will be a suspension and MLB will “agree” that it was the interpreter
If Ippei did bet on baseball he clearly was terrible at it.
Only have to say two words about this
Pete Rose
If ohtahni is banned, Can LA void the deal & get the 700 million back?
Shouldn’t be too hard since they won’t pay they vast majority of it for a decade
my understanding is that they had to put about 480 mil into a trust that would eventually be the 680 mil in 2034
If he is banned. His contract is nullified. He will get paid while he’s suspended at prorated 2mil per year.
I would assume the the 68 mill per year deferred would also be prorated and paid at the deferred to date, but I’m not sure.
I would think the deferred payments could be nullified later if the dodgers chose the breach of contract legal argument, but I have no idea, that’s pure speculation on my part.
Well there you go, lawyerbacks, now you can say something. Still, not passing judgment till we know more. And shhh neither are they. 😉
Akso, the folks that are rooting for Ohtani to be guilty are the worst kind of people.
I think he should face consequences for whatever he is responsible for, but as a player he is good for the game so nothing too severe. A year suspension at the most? We shall see how it all plays out.
Exactly Salzilla. They are disgusting.
Agreed. Scum.
Almost as bad as guys who talk about how this will affect their fantasy team.
Waaaah sorry you have no joy in life.
While I agree with you that Ohtani being innocent is perhaps the best outcome for the game and fans, I don’t understand MLB’s public relations stance in this yesterday. Why not simply state they are gathering information for a potential investigation? Instead they release information saying Ohtani is not the subject of an internal MLB investigation.
MLB creates MLB’s own problems with stuff like this, imho. And, I think it makes it worse for Ohtani, unfortunately.
MLB saying they “gathered further information, thus changing their stance from “no investigation” to “under investigation” seems to imply some level of evidence above what has already been released. If they have, that’s fine. If they haven’t, they’re only harming his reputation, imo.
Cause he bet on baseball and they’re trying to cover up he bet on baseball.
LA to Vegas is an hour flight. 2 hours both ways
Ohtani AND Ippei could have flown out, placed bets, and would have been perfectly legal long as it was on football basketball tennis golf soccer horses. Heck betting on horses is actually legal in CA. So are fantasy sports and gambling at casinos.
Problem is Vegas tracks what you bet on by law. Aka tracks that you bet on baseball.
Only reason you do an illegal underground gambling ring is to avoid detection. Illegal underground rings aren’t reporting anything to anyone.
You have a serious problem about this. Your hate is obvious. Take a mute.
I don’t hate ohtani.
Believing people should be held accountable for their actions isn’t hate.
Sorry your parents raised you incorrectly if you think being famous and rich should exclude you from laws.
Smartest thing they could have done. So much speculation right now. Still contend the first version of Ippei’s story is the right one which would still spell trouble for Shohei.
Seems fairly obvious that’s the case, and once the lawyers got involved that’s when the lies started happening. But I’d be willing to bet, no bookie needed, that MLB won’t do anything to punish the golden child.
Plus idk how they prove Ohtani knew about it if the interpreter keeps taking the blame. I think the first story is the most likely but theyll need some sort of evidence on Ohtani.
Because of the wire transfers. They are likely going to be the real problem for Ohtani.
The financial institution can tell the investigators
what device the authorization has made from,
the IP address it was on at the time,
the time it was made,
the login used (I say that because there are 4 people in my company authorized to make bank transactions and we all have our own separate login),
and if a notification was sent to Ohtani before authorizing the transfer. I get a text asking if the bank transfer was authorized on anything over $10k for my company.
This is going to be very interesting the way it plays out.
MLB doesn’t.
Just remember, MLB doesn’t have to “prove” anything regarding Ohtani knowing. They just have to believe he did it and render judgement. Administrative penalties are enforced at the Commissioner’s discretion, so long as no employment law is violated in the process.
There’s nothing to prevent Manfred (other than the obvious) from finding that Ohtani violated MLB rules and regulations based on his wire transfers along with the initial statements from Ohtani’s own camp.
It’s a completely different system from the criminal system. And the fact criminal defense attorneys said he didn’t do it has no bearing on MLB, just like with the Bauer case.
Imo, they will not find him guilty of anything, nor will they pursue any additional administrative charges against him, absent very clear damning evidence to the contrary.
My hope is that they ban Ohtani if he did something wrong, but exonerate him if he didn’t. As for which he is (guilty or innocent), only Ohtani, Ippei, and God know.
The interpreter may not be willing to go to prison to protect Ohtani, if that is indeed what he has been doing.
Certainly changed Sammy the Bull’s perspective. But they were offering him tens of millions either.
I have no evidence of course, but rumor has it God speaks to some privileged individuals, so they must know too
“As for which he is (guilty or innocent), only Ohtani, Ippei, and God know.”…And the bookie who took the bet knows too.
He may know, but he never met with Ohtani, allegedly. He said he just received the transfers. I’m fairly certain receiving the name, Shohei Ohtani, on $500K wire transfers was enough to encourage a continued line of betting though.
I mean, I know a handful of Shohei Ohtani’s from the neighborhood, but there can’t be that many…
I thought that too, but how does a guy who makes ~$300k/year rack up $4.5m in debt? I doubt a bookie gives a man of his income that kind of credit line.
Especially in California, where his take home is closer to $150-200k. This isn’t like getting a mortgage with a 30 year payment plan.
You can if you keep introducing other “whales” aka big losing bettors to the bookie. Mazahura was in the hole so much in the beginning that he was never going to see a single winning dollar hit his account.
There are bookies out there who don’t even book bets with their bosses bc they already know your series of bets will be net losses. They’ll keep giving you action and extending credit as long as you bring in new action.
This will be the nail in the coffin for baseball
First mlb lost fans bec of bonds/PED users
Then nfl/nba usurped mlb in popularity
Then Manfred botched pandemic season
Then player strike
Then rule changes
Now the face of baseball is a degenerate gambler
RIP major league baseball
1903-2024
lol
Nah. Baseball will live on.
Baseball will get over this. Dodgers fans and ohtani fanboys might not, but the rest of us are laughing.
The irony of you utilizing the word “usurped”.
Be serious, this isn’t 1940s. Kids are downloading an app and betting by their 19th birthday.
4 million dollars to Shohei is the equivalent of $4000 to any of us. Sure not a good look overall, but society and MLB baseball have got in to bed with gambling so this is the realities of that.
If he was (Shoheih was at the core of this as long as he wasnt betting on baseball, it really shouldn’t matter, it certainly won’t be the death of baseball
This is exactly why this is a big deal. This recent gambling craze is so utterly obnoxious I’m ready to cut ties with sports.
That I agree with, gambling can be addictive and ruin people’s lives, the fact that we allow it to be marketed to people and kids, it’s pretty insane. I’ve never seen an industry go from taboo to sports sponsorships so quickly.
Next we’ll have Sunday night football, presented by Colombian Pure
That might actually make me watch football.
Dusty
Next someone will say that the Oakland As are moving to Las Vegas
4 million dollars to Shohei is the equivalent of $4000 to any of us.
============================
Let’s say that is true. I get a notification for any transaction for a fraction of that amount. So I am going to know if $4,000 just disappeared. It is almost unimaginable that any of these stories are true.
The math is good, I’m not saying he didn’t know I agree that seems impossible, I’m saying if he made a couple of million dollar bets it’s really not that big of a deal
It wont be the death of Baseball, but its a big deal, unless MLB Baseball wants to set new gambling standards, you can’t pretend or declare the standards have changed.
They changed the standards when they let gambling companies become major sponsors
I’m sure this is sarcasm, but let me still jump in here and say that the rules changes don’t belong on your list. Fans have been overwhelmingly in favor of the shortened games.
@coop
Lol what fans?
And at what cost? Losing tons of previously loyal fans? Mlb is so unpopular. Forget nfl/nba, they dominate baseball. But nascar & golf and even soccer receives more attention than mlb. Pretty soon bowling & darts will be ahead in popularity
Johnny utah, Where are you getting your data from? Last season attendance was 70.7M,, up 6.1M from the year before.
Johnny
There are over MLB 2450 baseball games per year and attendance is probably around 40 million fans. Tell me again how you think golf, bowling and U.S. soccer might surpass that?
A few years back, cumulative MLB attendance exceded both footballs, hockey and NBA combined
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Over 70 million total annual attendees
30,000 average per event
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
7 million total annual attendees
22,000 per event
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
22 million total annual attendees
18,000 per game
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
18 million total annual attendees
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
22 million total annual attendees
18,000 per event
Lol nba arenas only hold 18,000 fans max
Nfl only has 16 gms a year (now its 17)
Mlb stadiums have 50,000 seats! And play 162 gms
The f are you comparing??
Also i never said nhl or major league soccer are more popular. International soccer yes. You’re going to see the biggest crowds in sports history during world cup ‘26 in US
Most MLB stadiums do not have 50K seats. Only two have 50K. and one of those is in Oakland, soon to be replaced by a smaller park. The other one is Dodger Stadium, and they drew over 3.8M last season. Only five stadiums seat between 45K to 50K. Six seat less than 40K.
It still comes down to the fact that MLB had more than 70 million in attendance. last season. If MLB was dying, the size of the stadium would be irrelevant, since it doesn’t matter how big or little a stadium is, if fans were staying away. Clearly, as shown by the numbers, they aren’t.
Put differently, baseball is the only sport with fans intense enough, and enough of them, to enjoy a 162 game season.
And that was only because the Phillies made it to the playoffs the last two years. Philadelphia fans pack CBP when they make it into the playoffs.
Disclaimer: I’ve never supported steroids in professional baseball. I think there’s more evidence that baseball regained more fans than they ever lost because of steroids.
They gained more fans than they ever had in the past because of the steroid-era. The same fans who were shaking their heads in 2006 had spent the last decade cheering and turning a blind eye to what they knew was happening. Hypocrites all around. Hating Bonds but loving David Ortiz should make that abundantly clear. At the end of the day, steroids paid for all those new stadiums we sit in today.
youtube.com/watch?v=NRS62nccwmw
Hell yeah, get em!
A toatal solar eclipse, a cicada uprising and now this. This is going to be such a weird spring
This is the right thing to do. We don’t know what we don’t know yet. It is really unfair to anyone involved for us to speculate irresponsibly. The talk shows and web boards have to fill their spaces with something, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t be adults and exhibit a little patience. We’ll find out whatever we will find out soon enough, and not everything in the universe is an elaborate conspiracy. Usually it’s just weird randomness.
Agreed. But you can’t stop the bottom feeders. All you can do is ignore them.
Or come here to read for entertainment purposes.
That’s the thing. This story broke days ago. The media couldn’t shut up about his dogs name or what shampoo he uses, it was insane. Then this story pops, an article gets scrubbed and then leaked.
This is a big deal. There wouldn’t be media silence if there wasn’t collusion going on to limit damage to the absolute minimum.
It’s not speculation the 2 transfers of 500k were wired to an eligible gambling business. So yeah there is enough evidence of foul play to speculate. Plus we already have the two different stories from his interpreter. Can easily see the first one was closer to the truth then the second one which came after lawyers found out about the situation.
I disagree. The league, media and authorities involved would be irresponsible to make assumptions. We, the nobodies, have every right to speculate.
Especially when you hear conflicting reports.
I know all dodgers fan think that his interpreter snuck into Ohtani’s room while he was sleeping and grabbed his phone. Pushed his thumb up against it to unlock it and made those wire transfers. Ohtani didn’t realize it (for months) even though he was missing 4.5m. That’s because he is so rich he doesn’t ever bother to look at his account. Don’t ask them if doing a wire trans for 500k can be done that easy. They start to shiver.
Signed every dodger fan.
but that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t be adults and exhibit a little patience.
======================
There is nothing wrong with us speculating. In fact, I would argue that it is speculation that keeps this from getting swept under the rug. And I don’t judge harshly,
But they have to explain it. If it is all innocent, then just explain what happened. Once I see people go into radio silence, I always ask why.
Yes, lets not speculate on a website that has “Rumors” in its name…
They need to come clean. And let the chips fall where they may.
You are the company you keep, Shohei…
Unless Shohei is that naive and trusting to allow access to his bank accounts there is no way he didn’t know about any of this as I’m sure he gets alerts and bank statements and probably knows how to read
That’s just it, he said he did know about the payments first then later said the money was stolen.
They call the second statement lies…he didn’t realize the wire penalty. Ohtani is full of it…
Yep, there ya go.
Hope he doesn’t get banned. Would be bad for the game. I don’t care about gambling
Damn, you would think MLB would spell the guy’s name right in their official statement…
Otani is another spelling of his name and is how it is listed on the bank records.
I think Duffy was referring to the interpreter.
Some owner who couldn’t sign him probably snitched on him to the media
Honestly the way Ohtani acts reminds me of Michael Jackson. So closed off and overly guarded. It doesn’t surprise me one bit he has this sort of thing going on behind closed doors.
Because that owner read one of those writer’s article saying his team was in talks with Ohtani and Ohtani was close to signing with his team. So, the owner went out and made a million dollar bet that Ohtani was going to sign with his team. When Ohtani didn’t sign with his team. He got stuck paying the lost bet and then took the story to ESPN that Ohtani’s interpreter was making bets with an illegal bookie.
It’s all making sense now.
Says the Dodger fan who is crying the Dodgers blues that Ohtani is innocent and was set up.
Wait until Ohtani realizes his 70 million per year was deferred. Talk about lost in translation.
Sounds that was the last bet he lost on.
thanks, I sprayed coffee on my keyboard
To the surprise of exactly nobody.
Boom. Poor Dodgers: the honeymoon hasn’t lasted long.
So all Pete needed all these years was an interpreter?
lol, right. THAT’S what kept him out of the Hall. rich.
@deGrom/Langford Texas Ranger (In Bauer We Trust) out here easily taking home the dumbest comment of the day award. Congrats son!
Wonder if Ben Verlander is still gonna be Ohtani’s stalker now
Manfred’s ready to sweep this under the rug lol
He’ll reinstate pete rose & personally induct him into HOF before banning shohei
Mlb is a joke and this is the biggest emergency since barry bonds’ head grew to be the size of a watermelon
I think it’s real simple to understand as to whether or not Ohtani was involved with this before hand. The bookmaker would not have let this guy get into such a massive hole, nine times his annual salary, unless he knew there was a deeper well backing the guy up.
That’s where this starts. Not saying Ohtani was gambling, but he knew and participated in some illegal ways.
Yeah something doesn’t add up. Does it mean Ohtani is some degenerate gambler? No, but something ain’t kosher.
At the very least the interpreter said Ohtani was backing him. Whether that’s true or not idk. What I do know is bookies don’t let you ring up 4.5m in debt without collateral. Which obviously he did t have because he couldn’t pay it.
Perhaps a bookie who knows you’re making 300-500k?
Nine times in what you make in a year is not a good investment for the book. This guy’s debt was the bookie’s investment. He will not let you keep trying to win back your money unless he was sure of something on his end. Ohtani participated in some way even if it was a simple voucher or an “understanding”.
Or leverage… knowing as they did that this guy was tied to Ohtani. Or that Ippei implied this “understanding” without Ohtani being involved at all.
We’re talking about a player who deferred 68 million a year for 11-20 years instead of taking 50 million a year up front. And someone who lives and sleeps baseball (apparently be brought a mattress into the Angels’ ballpark and slept there sometimes). And someone whose people literally reached out to MLB and said they wanted this investigated.
I don’t know what the hell is going on with this story. But I’m pretty confident Ohtani was not gambling, that he was in the dark on this until recently. The concerning thing for me is if the part about helping Ippei with money is true, that’s a crime on its own. But I have no idea what the actual truth is, and no one else does either. Since the “story” broke, it’s been changed and denied and changed again. I don’t know who is doing the talking (other than Ippei and the bookmakers), what was actually said, and never mind the potential for something being lost in translation.
I do know that Ohtani’s camp said they wanted MLB to investigate the stealing of his money. The fact that that’s how they’ve worded it in the most recent info suggests that it was likely the case all along.
Why would they want mlb to investigate theft?
As far as I can tell or find anywhere, ohtani has not filed a police report. The FBI and the state of California are not involved.
The IRS is the only entity investigating.
The feds are the ones investigating the bookies.
It’s funny how Ohtani’s team came out and said they would file theft charges. If they haven’t yet let see if they do. Lying to Feds is a crime as well.
I can’t imagine Ohtani is some degenerate gambler trying to turn his 700 million into 1 billion. If I had to guess I would say he was taken advantage of.
Hopefully…
Come on man! Wake up! He’s not trying to turn his 700 million into a billion…this is all about the high of winning…it’s an addiction and you may be lucky you don’t understand that part.
You don’t have to be a degenerate gambler to run up a bill like that. You just have to bet big and win. Gambling is like a high, winning money is twice as good as earning it.
winning money is twice as good as earning it.
============================
Arguable the greatest line in movie history, if only because it is true. I can win enough money in poker where it wouldn’t even cover my bar tab, but it’ll take two hours for me to explain how I won it.
Seems like he at least consented to paying off his homie’s illegal gambling debt.
Exactly at the least…which is also illegal.
This all happened in 2021 through the beginning of the 2023 season. Ohtani had not gotten his $700 million deal and his career earning between MLB, NPB, and endorsements was less than $45 million.
No he has made more than 45m before he sign with the dodgers.
He had a net worth of 50m at the time he signed with the dodgers. It’s not a crazy amount which makes even less likely he forked over 4.5m for a friends gambling debt.
The gambling occurred between 2021 and early 2023. He had earned $9.6 million in MLB to that point plus $32 million in endorsements. He signed with the Dodgers for the 2024 season.
Ever heard of a dude named Michael Jordan?
You beat me to it…
Ippei bet on Adonis Creed?
Michael Jordan was a crazy gambler as is Charles Barkley. They say they like the excitement.
They have to, the official story is so wild it stinks to high heaven. Sure white guys are the enemy now, but history just can’t be Pete, and Shoeless Joe. as the bad guys. Yakuza, the Mob, so many suspects. Why did M.L.B wait till the season started to break the news ? Why is Bauer still blacklisted ? Lots of questions need to be answered.
Because he made the league look incredibly stupid about spider tac
“Why did M.L.B wait till the season started to break the news ?” Seriously? You had to ask that question? It’s called ratings. It’s called getting people to pay attention to your dying sport. It’s called getting people to look into the sport betting apps MLB promotes and advertises during every game. Which in turns makes more money for MLB at the perfect time… as a new season is beginning. It’s all about the ratings and the money.
Any news is good news? Not so sure about that one in regards to this. MLB certainly does not want this PR
Technically, MLB didn’t ask for this to happen. That was brought on by the investigation and the media bringing the story to light.
If it was up to Manfred, none of this would have happened in the first place.
But the media and MLB will take all the revenue and attention it will bring towards them now. There are 29 other teams that are benefitting from the Dodgers and Ohtani’s problem.
Had to have been betting on Angels games with all the money he lost
For that price, I’ll take the hit and do prison country club time.
For 20 years?
insert lazy_security_guard.gif
This seems awful fishy. Ohtani is owed due process but that he was involved in illegal gambling, even tangentially, could (and should) be very problematic for his career. At worst, this could end up being a huge fall from grace and at least, this has to be a major distraction for the Dodgers.
Even if he was betting on other sports the punishment will be a slap on the wrist. If he bet on baseball then of course things will be different. In 2015 the league fined Marlins pitcher Jarred Cosart an undisclosed amount after determining he he placed illegal sports bets. Because he did not bet on baseball that was the extent of his penalty.
Due process from MLB? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I hope He signed Ohtani’s name on those transfers.
MLB is not going to kill their unicorn.
Yeah not a chance. Sweep sweep sweep….there it’s gone!
It’s never the crime, it’s the cover up. Follow the money.
I bet they put Pete in the HOF sooner than later.
Soon after he dies? Probably. While he is alive? Not likely.
Make an example out of him by suspending him two full innings
Ding! And thus it begins. If I’m Michael Bowyer and I’m under investigation by the F.B.I. and I’ve got receipts showing somebody famous bet on pro sports including MLB, you can bet your sweet life I’m using to get the best deal I can. Is there still a chance that Ohtani is just an affable rube who happens to play MLB and got taken by the translator/violator? Sure.
But that is rapidly turning from likelihood to possibility.
And that is not good.
Why? It’d make way more sense to keep that quiet so you have millions of dollars when you get out of prison.
The FBI and DOJ rarely go after the bettors in the cases like Bowyer’s. They’ll want to know how his ops functions and go after other co-conspirators and competitors if they give him a chance to flip.
In the early days of crypto/dark web, not a single purchaser of illicit goods were prosecuted. They were only interested in busting the market operators and transaction facilitators.
Typically, the way it works is bettors can be good Witnesses for a case, or good Suspects. The person’s classification in the report doesn’t matter to the FBI; but if you try to play games, especially as a high-profile client, the FBI will mess your day up bad.
They’ve already got their lamb. Nothing is going to happen to him.
Highly recommend reading this article
espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39784809/dodgers-shohei-oh…
This timeline is stunning.
Notice how he went from detailed answers to one word answer. He was advised by lawyers and legal teams to say little as possible and say yes or no not add any details. 100%!
What a mess. I can’t believe any of it until we start seeing the wire transfers.
But why wasn’t LA providing Ohtani with a new translator as soon as they found out that they had an issue?
Slap fights and guessing people’s weight are highly addictive forms of gambling. They are the gateway to rock, paper, scissors…
Ohtanis baseball experience is about to change dramatically. In Anaheim he was protected and he self-isolated. Opposition fans treated him with respect. Now he will be trolled by road fans, especially Giant and Padre fans, mercilessly. I imagine he will hear things that he has never heard before. He better have a really thick skin to survive this.
He won’t understand the insults if his translator is in jail.
Good hecklers learn their insults in the player’s language. 🙂
and he will be trolled… in Japanese.
Gyanburā …..Gyanburā … Gyanburā
Ohtani Meiyo ga nai
Ohtani Meiyo ga nai
Ohtani Meiyo ga nai
Ōtani wa hanzai-sha
Ōtani wa hanzai-sha
Ōtani wa hanzai-sha
The chants write themselves
Bet MLB will sweep whatever he did under the rug
I agree they may try. But you can bet the government will then step in and investigate.
This won’t go away too quickly. Unless MLB wants another black eye on their way of running the sport. Betting is one area they do not tread lightly. It’s one area of their rules that is strongly enforced.
Though, I am sure the MLB brass is extremely upset on this matter and deeply disturbed that this came out in the media. Because now they are going to lose a marketing media frenzy face of MLB.
Maybe he needed money to pay taxes. Oh wait, he doesn’t pay taxes.
He pays taxes. Federal taxes, in every state he plays in, plus in Japan.
MLB’s investigation will be sponsored by DraftKings Sportsbook.
Pete Rose has joined the chat
I wonder if Pete is betting on whether Ohtani will be found guilty or not, and if he will be banned?
Players that have literally beaten and strangled their wives/girlfriends have been suspended and come back and the league and fans seem pretty cool with them. Ozuna comes to mind first but I’m sure there are others. Yet somehow gambling is some sort of unforgiveable crime? In a league very visibly sponsored by gambling companies? Not saying I think Ohtani actually broke any gambling rules based on the current information but even if he did then why the hell should anyone care unless he was betting against his own team and throwing games? If someone has an intelligent answer to this I’d love to hear it.
If the players are betting on the game > players may affect the outcome of those games due to those bets > undermines credibility of the league > MLB = WWE.
I agree but if the player is betting on the game and can control the outcome of the game why would he be 4.5 million in debt? What did he do? Know the outcome and intentionally take the losing bet?
It’s easy to understand. Go back and read the stories on Pete Rose’s gambling while playing. He was found guilty on betting on his games played AND managed, yet was in debt with his bookies.
And as I mentioned in another post… if Ohtani believes highly in his ability and his team, I am sure he would have been betting big bucks on those years with Angels on winning games, Division, AL Championship games and World Series. How many did his Angels team win those years he played with them? Those would be lost bets.
Which raises another question. Could this be his reason for signing with the Dodgers? A better chance at winning those Division, NL Championship and World Series bets he was betting on his team would win? And to make up some of those losses?
Great points. Thanks for you reply and that all makes sense. If none of this betting was on baseball then this all goes away without more than a slap on the wrist. If they can prove he was betting on baseball then he might be toast
Is betting on sports legal in California?
Yes or no?
Is betting on sports allowed in the current CBA?
Yes or no?
Betting on sports is illegal in CA
I believe MLB players can bet on non-baseball sports, assuming sports betting is legal in the jurisdiction they place the wagers.
If a player sends money to an illegal bookmaking operation for any reason, he is in violation of an MLB regulation. Apparently, all players have to sign some anti gambling MLB document every spring acknowledging this provision among others in fine print that may or may not be in Japanese. If the Dodgers were relying on Ippei to translate all this from English for Shohei, maybe he didn’t for whatever reason.
After this, let’s in-state, Pete Rose back in baseball to the Hall of Fame
Tokyo Rose
I’m stealing Tokyo Rose…, Oil Can.
If they’re claiming theft or they got conned then they have to file a complaint w Newport PD or OC Sheriff and they will have to explain everything so Ohtani’s story will have to come out unless he drops charges. And if he’s wrong now he can be sued.
It would a real kick if they find another 4Mill wired to Stormy Daniels.
Hahahaha Sayonara Shohei, enjoy your career back in Japan. Angels dodged that bullet.
“In terms of organizations outside the league, Quinn adds that neither the California Bureau of Investigation nor the FBI are investigating.”
So, in other words, the 4.5 million dollars noted being betted was actually wired from MLB, the Dodgers and Ohtani to pay the California Bureau of Investigation and the FBI to look the other way and not find Ohtani was involved in any way?
I don’t believe for one second that Quinn has any idea of which agencies are investigating this. There’s no doubt crimes were committed beyond tax fraud. Some law enforcement agency is investigating this situation.
The unarguable point is that money was wired directly from Ohtani’s account to an illegal entity – therefor punishment has to be given to Ohtani by either / or the MLB and the feds
espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39784809/dodgers-shohei-oh… ….. A timeline of this story starting from last Sunday from ESPN who broke the news.
If the LA DA was on the case, Ohtani would have nothing to worry about. That DA doesn’t prosecute anybody.
Gascon is a joke
This happened while he was in Anaheim. Bad news is the Orange County DA still believes in law and order and will prosecute. Buh bye Showtime.
Look, they didnt place bets on games, just on particular plays, like balls/strikes/outs/hits etc….Really, whats the meaning of “is” anyhow….
If they did, the inside information didn’t help much, the dude was 4.5 million in debt to his bookie. Maybe he should bet against monies information he got.
Imagine if u were big star in Japan n didn’t know a word of English, you’d be pretty reliant on your interpeter. Has had em since ’17 w/Angel’s so there’s some type of bond, closeness. Who should be scrutinized is Ohtani’s money ppl unless they did find indiscreptencies in his accounting n were 1s to bring attention to matter. Can’t expect international superstar, 1 of most marketable athletes on earth w/all his endorsements to keep track of his everyday account balances. If anything reads like Ohtani’s guilty of bein too trustworthy. Gambling is hell of disease.
Imagine your interpreter becomes your best friend. In 7 years of being around a professional language interpreter and English speaking co-workers, you have zero command of the English language except the between innings station mentions saying, “theeeees Ezzz Sho-Hay Oh-tawneeee and yo leeeseneen doooo Ahn-gells ray-D-Ohhh.” I say he knows and speaks English but hasn’t let anyone know how much. There can be recordings and everyone will say Ohtani can’t speak English so it can’t be Shohei. The dude’s a criminal mastermind. Now, how does the new wife tie into all of this? Does she have Yakuza connections? This is how conspiracy theories work.
come on, mlb. if a guy is taking the fall and going to jail in order to protect your profits, the least you can do is spell his name right
I went to school decades ago with a Japanese American kid named Otani with no H. Same with a kid named Ono no H. This H is a modern addition in Romaji for the Western world.
Say wat? Tat too witout the H’s.
Story even more fishier than a bass rodeo tournament by announcing it when the parties are over seas. Ippei Mizuhari probably doesn’t fly back to us. Can’t interview. Case inconclusive.
Free
Me
They don’t need to talk with the Ippei. They only need to see the wire transfer receipts and whose accounts they came from. That is the person who will need to answer the questions.
Anywhere he goes ‘Gambler’ by Kenny Rodgers blaring!
Public address announcer at every away stadium: “Now betting….Shohei Ohtani”
Get his ‘awe-shucks, i’m perfect’ nonsense out of MLB. never trusted him. The Dodgers curse lives on with full force—with full recompense. We have Wyatt Langford, we’ll be fine.
MLB ramps up the investigation while Oakland waits for Las Vegas to shovel bales of $100 bills their way. Tell me again how serious gambling is.
To the government? Big.
You best be sure government will make sure they piece of every $ you get.
Either Ohtani is the “big dumb jock” and his interpreter was the ultimate con man who could give 2 entirely different conversations between Ohtani and the person who he’s talking to. And not one person who speaks Japanese ever tipped Ohtani off. Or Ohtani’s team is full of it.
NO HUNT..BEWARE..OPEN/CLOSE..NO CREDIT..EARNEST T BASS..!!
99% of you were wrong in the basic law language about J.D. Davis. So this is just Jell-O
I was an AI/CGI Ray Liotta to play him in the movie adaptation.
Field of Deferrals?
Yawn. Unless Shohei is throwing games I don’t care. And honestly, I’m not an LA fan, so I don’t care either way.
Well, you are a Philly fan and I dont think yall care about anything moral.
Wow! Sick burn. How will I ever recover from that gross overgeneralization!
Every bookie I knows extends $4.5 million in credit to guys making $85,000 a year. Oh wait, no they don’t.
Pretty obvious that the interpreter is the straw man hiding Ohtani’s betting. ESPN reports that the debt ballooned from just under $1 million at the end of 2022, to over $4 million by early 2023.
Sounds like somebody laid $3 million on Jalen Hurts and the Eagles to beat the Chiefs…lol
Waiting for Ohtani to call this a witchhunt.
Free me
Not a dodger fan and I would love to see them flush all that money down the drain or lose Ohtani all together, but to be fair. If his inside information landed him 4.5 million in debt than he is welcome to it as far as I am concerned. I am not at all upset that I didn’t have that same information.
If baseball games aren’t bet on, fine. But if Ohtani is using his interpreter as a fall guy, get Ohtani some help.
Wait, didn’t just the other day MLB said they weren’t going to investigate Ohtani? What new info did they get?
The fact that there is tax evasion and wire fraud as part of this crazy story. I’m waiting to hear that Ohtani has gone missing from the team plane back to L.A. and resurfaces back in Japan (no extradition) because he wants to be closer to family and play there instead.
That would be the quite the finale.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extrad…
See that “DC” footnote next to Japan? Japan is a dual criminality (DC) nation. Which means if they do not have the same exact law there, they ignore any extradition requests.
Japan does not extradite to the U.S. Unless its a major crime like murder.
Bonilla
More likely they announce that his wife is “homesick” and so they decided to return
If this was Trump he’d be in prison for life.
“Shohei, did you place these bets and wire this money”?
SO: “Beisbol has bean berry berry goot to me”. “No understand”
Has the fired interpreter left the country? There are nations which do not have extradition treaties with the US. There are even countries that refuse extradition requests.
An illegal bookmaker is making a claim regarding a prominent athlete in exchange for what? How much reliance can anyone place on the assertions a known criminal has possibly arisen from possible blackmail?
If the interpreter does not cooperate with MLB, Ohtani refuses per his rights under the CBA and there are no federal justice agencies even looking into this situation, specifically what facts will MLB investigate?
We haven’t even touched on how far the powerful owners of the LAD will go to protect their meal ticket.
It seems laughable right now.
The fired interpreter is an American. He lives in Orange County. He isn’t fleeing anywhere, though Shohei might. Japan doesn’t extradite.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extrad…
See that “DC” footnote next to Japan? Japan is a dual criminality (DC) nation. Which means if they do not have the same exact law there, they ignore any extradition requests.
Japan does not extradite to the U.S. Unless its a major crime like murder.
Now you know.
They extradited two Japanese citizens to the US on gambling charges in 2019.
They would extradite Ohtani or Mizuhura
They would extradite Ippei because he is American. Unless he has an “accident” first.
“An illegal bookmaker is making a claim regarding a prominent athlete in exchange for what? How much reliance can anyone place on the assertions a known criminal has possibly arisen from possible blackmail?”
Go back and read the Pete Rose gambling cases. He was also found guilty from receipts with a bookie who was reported as being an illegal and known liar bookie.
One of Pete’s best friends was a bet runner for him too. Placing the bets in Pete’s name.
It’s an illegal gambling operation. Can you bust the people running it? That is what needs to happen FIRST. Then you can rake OTHER people if you must but start with the illegal gambling operation.
uhhhhhhh, they did. That’s how the records were uncovered that Ohtani was wiring them money.
Well this explains all that deferred money. He barely loses anything if he gets suspended at this point in time. In my opinion If it is proven that he Knowingly had any involvement At all with gambling and or organized crime mlb Better Not give him just a slap on the wrist because he is a cash cow
Somebody dodged a bullet. Can you guess who?
c7.alamy.com/comp/TY725F/los-angeles-angels-owner-…
The crazy deferral structure now starts making a lot more sense in hindsight. Apparently the bookie was busted in October 2023 and that’s when it came to light that Ohtani was wiring him money. ESPN has apparently been on this for months.
If I’m in his shoes and afraid I might be getting hit with a giant suspension without pay, pay me the minimum, but put $480 million into an escrow account that I get to access after my career is over. Kind of genius.
And if MLB suspends me, the Nippon League would be thrilled to have me back and pay me a giant salary.
Per ESPN: Braves infielder David Fletcher was at an illegal poker game ( at team hotel ) w/ Otahni’s interpreter.
“ Shohei, it’s Donald”
Are the prohibitions against betting on baseball limited to MLB games? He may have bet on NPB games.
I’m surprised Pete Rose hasn’t given interviews about this yet.
He’d be dumb to say anything right now without the full story which none of us have. He still wants his shot at entering the HOF.
This does not bode well for Ohtani. I have no faith in MLB to thoroughly investigate this especially since it’s run by a puppet like Manfraud. By past precedent though Ohtani should be suspended without pay till the “investigation” is over.
Thought he’s already without pay…at least until 2038.
Manfred gonna retire earlier than announced I expect
I wonder if the Dodgers FO would trade Ohtani and all his salary for Bauer on a league minimum contract at this point?
Haha Dodgers have quite the track record. Urias, Bauer and Ohtani. Wonder what’s next? Yamamoto found out to be a hitman for the Yakuza?
Yeah, the Dodgers are becoming the embarrassment of MLB bad luck Mets team of the west coast.
U mad bro?
No but seriously mlb investigating itself and found that it didn’t do anything wrong is a strong possibility.
MLB investigating itself (a player that’s part of the mlb who they anre investigating) and found it did nothing wrong (whatever the player is accused of).
Seems like you let someone on the internet upset you. You felt the need to call them out. Clearly they got to you made you mad. I haven’t seen anyone mention you. Maybe they forgot about you?
Who do players play for? Which league? Pretty sure it’s called Major League Baseball or MLB for short.
You’re probably thinking MLBPA which isn’t actually a league it’s a union designed to protect players rights. Again not a league.
But yes. Players are employed by MLB
Somehow political affiliation comes into the chat. Not a good 24 hours for you. Probably need a timeout UJ.
One way or another, that interpreter screwed-up a pretty sweet gig.
Amen to that! Coincidentally, I just ordered Rosetta Stone’s Japanese course! Wish me luck…
“To this point, there’s been nothing to suggest that Ohtani himself did any betting.”
Nothing? So millions of dollars transferred from a personal account to an illegal gambling ring doesn’t qualify as “possibly involved?” This takes gullibility to whole new level.
@Ubaldo Jimenez
Well, someone did something illegal and to tell me that his translator making $300K per year has a $4M debt, seems pretty ridiculous. Was he translating for every player in the game?
He actually was only making $85,000 until hired by the Dodgers. They bumped his pay to $300k. Which makes the $4.5M of credit even more unbelievable.
@Ubaldo Jimenez
Are you talking about that woman?
Women. 3 women.
And not a single one of them credible
Ubaldo, now that made me laugh.
harambe- I bet that you’re the same type of person that believes that 91 felony counts against someone is a witch hunt and not a sign that m, at the very least, they do some shady stuff…
We’re talking about Bauer here. He, specifically, was framed.
By three women? Yeah, ok…
How many people accused Laci Green of r*pe back in 2016? You mean to tell me every single one of them was lying?
So much for his Hall of Fame asperations.
But he still has Hall of Fame aspirations.
So did Pete Rose. What difference does it make?
Old York
Probably has Hall of Fame perspirations right now
suspension deffered until 2078
I have a few Ohtani rookie cards in Gem Mint 10. Willing to make a deal. No reasonable offer refused.
I have 4 dozen 2018 Topps Update Rookie #US1 PSA graded between 9 and 10. What are they selling for right now?
There is an authenticated baseball signed by interpreter Ippei Mizuhara listed on eBay right now. Not kidding.
For how much? 4.5 million dollars?
sees no evil, covering his eyes
hears no evil, covering his ears
speaks no evil, covering his mouth
Phillies/Braves NLCS. Have a feeling between this and Mookie at SS. Serious concerns after Yoshiyama debut. This is not looking good for the Dodgers. And the Giants added Snell and an all-world defensive 3B to help the back of that staff. Can’t believe it’s gotten to this.
Oh calm down.
So many speculators and experts.
Wow. MLBTR is were the knowledgeable people.hang out.
How could I have.missed.it?
Woohoo! The uber rich and popular guy is getting screwed! Kinda makes you feel good, doesn’t it?
Everybody jump on board!
Maybe send Ohtani to Barrow with.the expansion team?
Arte Moreno is either the luckiest man on earth or the smartest man on earth. Lucky it is.
A broken clock is correct twice a day..
At least an analog one, a digital one might not show any time at all
Or smartest.
Shohei aka the big guy
The mob
.betting
Against.the Dodgers.
Arnold Rothstein is smiling in his grave.
“When I gambled, nothing else mattered.”
Shohei “Jussie” Ohtani.
When your life is so pathetic that you’re hoping for someone to get caught do something illegal because you don’t like a sports team. Get a life, people. Good Lord!
Get a life, people.
======================
Dude, this is part of life. The dude screwed up and is in the news. What are people supposed to do? Ignore it?
Joe, you obviously didn’t read his whole comment. Try again.
It’s the cover up that is provocative
Engrish is harde
Ohtani may soon be sporting a new uniform with a few more numbers on the back.
It will be like OJ looking for the dude that really did it.
Ohtani is guilty – Trevor Bauer accusers.
We’ll have more on this breaking scandal on MLB Network sponsored by DraftKings in a moment.
Facts: Betting is illegal in CA. Theft & thieving is legal and condoned & approved by certain people in CA. Scale or magnitude of theft is irrelevant.
Easy as 1 2 3 was an easy mute. Fuggin goober.
And you felt the need to announce this to the whole board… why?
Sexual predator? That’s slander!
MLB:
“We are currently in the information gathering stage, but we can preliminarily share that there is no evidence that Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, and the 1919 Chicago White Sox didnt collude to force Shohei Ohtani to commit wire fraud.”
From Ippei to Uppei….
Most of you guys are sad.
You are the same people that said that Bauer fractured the girl’s skull, beat her half to death and on and on.
Reading this, there are STILL idiots who are saying the guy is a sexual monster and on and on. Just because your sex like is boring as hell and you wives only do missionary with the lights off, doesn’t mean that other people don’t like some other things. Sorry to tell you but MOST women like rough.
Now onto Otani, no facts out. No smoking gun. Nothing other than a guy that has 100 bills as plentiful as the sand on a beach that pays off his best friends debt, and these same people need some blood.
I don’t even think Wander Franco got this much hate!
If I pay off my brother’s drug dealer for hole he dug, guess what, I am not a druggie. Paying a drug dealer is illegal I would guess but would anyone really charge me? Hell no. Unless you are Trump, no DA is charging you for something like that. Same with Ohtani. Because it’s HIM, this will become a huge thing. MUCH more than guys who beat their wives, shoot guns to intimidate women, so steroids to cheat, or steal signs in real time to cheat people from MVPs and World Series titles.
GTFOH with this nonsense
It is not mutually exclusive that one of three Bauer accusers set him up as an easy mark and that, at her request, he hit and injured her while she was unconscious.
You lost me after you stopped talking about what most women like
Yeah what a tool. Dude couldn’t get laid in a morgue.
Sounds like you are just really bad at sex if that is what they request. Would also explain the angst…
I bet he didn’t do it.
Did you change your user name to “Jordan” just for this post?
Was “Jordan23” already taken?
@Jordan 5, I see what you did there. Well played. Cigar for you!
My Mother-in-law asked me today if I thought that Ippei and Shohei could possibly be lovers. I never really thought of that, but could this be a big reason this is all happening? They have been inseparable since 2017 and they met in 2013. He might have the Wife role in addition to handling their finances. She thinks it’s weird for Shohei to still have a translator following him around since he’s embarking on his seventh season in MLB.
And maybe the payments to the bookie were because they were being blackmailed and in fact never gambled at all?
Nice fiction.
I am not even sure if I believe that you have a mother-in-law.
You know, that’s not at all out of the range of possibilities
I’m bricked up just thinking about what you wrote here troutahni. You have romance novelist in your future. Mmmmmmmm
She thought it very strange for Ohtani to get married and for her to pop up out of nowhere. She said they probably did this to protect his image in case Ohtani and Ippei’s relationship is publicly revealed in the next couple of weeks and months. I never even thought of this. My M-I-L has more street smarts than any person I’ve ever met. She constantly surprises me with the way her mind works. She should of been an attorney or a detective. A very smart Lady!
Is she single?
As neither Shohei Ohtani (as a union member) nor Ippei Mizuhara (as a former employee) have any obligation to cooperate, I do not see how an investigation will unearth anything, even if Ohtani did gamble.
There are going to be two entities asking for cooperation. The IRS can be held at bay for awhile by invoking 5th Amendment rights. MLB can be mightily offended by non-cooperation and do whatever they want about it. So far, the MLB investigation is only about Ippei who can be banned but not much else. IRS cases involving bookies don’t prosecute the players. They want the players to inform on the bookie who could lead them to bigger fish like casinos that accept layoff bets from bookies.
Ms Hill is that you?
Looks like Ohtani’s days in MLB are very possibly numbered
Mr. Cochran: If the glove does not fit, you must acquit.
Prosecutor: But he’s just a DH this year.
Mr. Cochran: Oh, sh$t..
Mr. Cochran: If the glove does not fit, you must acquit.
Prosecutor: He’s just a DH this year, he has no glove.
Mr. Cochran: Oh, $hit!
Whatever the course this ippeigate lead us to, this wont be a business as usual year in mlb especially in the ohtani’s camp.
Ah yes, because “doing an investigation” means it can’t be swept under the rug…This site needs an age limit, so many stupid children in the comments.
Reinstate Buck Weaver
He was frozen and will return in the 25th Century
Biddi-biddi-biddi
I can see the headlines now if convicted and banned from baseball… Say it isn’t so Oh!
Headline first reported by ayeah.
But it is not Sadaharu Oh!
How about, “the Sho is ovah!”
Maybe Ohtany can defer any punishment until his playing days are over.
“I never bet on baseball,” Mizuhara told ESPN. “That’s 100%. I knew that rule. … We have a meeting about that in spring training.”
This is a bunch of bull!
For isn’t this a known rule…baseball players aren’t forbidden from betting on sports, “but doing so with an illegal or offshore bookie is against the rules.” mentioned in their spring training meetings?
If MLB is so strict on their betting rules, I am sure doing so with an illegal or offshore bookie is against the rules is mentioned too in their spring training meetings and he DID break that rule. What then would make you believe he is telling the truth that he never bet on baseball then?
Also, they have been living and working in California for going on 7 years under the known law, “Under current state laws, there is nowhere in California where it is legal to place bets on sports events.” None of this rule is mentioned in any of the spring training meetings?
Again, if he knew the rule to NEVER bet on baseball and yet bet with an illegal bookie AND in a state where gambling is against both of those rules too. Then how can you truly believe he is being honest in that he never bet on baseball?
BS!
It’s another betting scandal bad day for MLB.
And to wrap it all up, he will be on Dr. Phil getting reamed out by Dr. Phil on how could he not know wiring money to his interpreter’s illegal bookie wasn’t going to get him in hot water with MLB and banned from baseball.
Indefinite suspension during investigation in 3…2…1 followed by lifetime MLB ban and criminal prosecution in CA.
For all those on here drawing a legal and practical equivalency between Fan Duel and Bet 360 and MLB players actually betting on baseball, I would remind the readers of a quote by the late, great, Harry Truman. He used to say “the only thing new in this world, is the history you don;t know.” The reason that MLB has historically taken such a hard line on Rule 21 is that gambling on games eventually leads to fixing of games as in 1919. If the fans get the feeling that games are being thrown as they were regularly at the time of the Black Sox, that is the end of the sport, at least at the MLB level. Which is why Pete Rose is still banned from MLB. If Ohtani’s name winds up linked to even one bet on one game…he is done.
Shoheiless Joe
Say it ain’t sho…
I’m not into politics on sports threads, but I don’t think we need a MSM propaganda mouth for vice president. Just sayin
San Fran is calling and they want their tranq and poop back
They must be in Chicago, New York or Texas right now eh?
Wouldn’t that be something if it came out boy wonder is a dirty bird
He’s a St. Louis Cardinal?
For someone that wasn’t supposed to pitch this year, Ohtani can still throw us a curve, then a knuckleball..from 1st story to 2nd story! Interpreter talked, Ohtani’s legal team talked..Ohtani..crickets..Dodgers..No Comment..MLB DOI..Standard statement..Manfred..crickets..to be continued!
Just think how it could be done.
Family member or friend or business partner bets on the game.
Pays you or your family member or friend later.
No geniuses involved.
Manfred was/is bad for baseball.
Manfred was/is bad for America.
This is the 609th reply to this “non-story”.
Non story lol give us a better story to discuss please because this is provocative
And if this is a “non-story” why are you reading and replying to it?
Go Cubs Go!!
This just in. Ohtani gets banned from baseball then gets hired by DraftKings to be their spokesperson.
This is extremely dumb. Sports betting is perfectly legal in many US states and should be legal everywhere. No government has a right to prohibit people from betting their own money. If they actually try to throw the book at him, the jury should nullify.
If he was a white guy from America he wouldn’t be allowed to play