Star two-way player Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers read a statement today in relation to Ippei Mizuhara, his former interpreter and friend. Mizuhara was fired last week amid his involvement with an illegal sports gambling operation.
Ohtani read the statement in Japanese, which was translated into English by Will Ireton, for a period of about 12 minutes. Video of the full thing was relayed by Talkin’ Baseball on X. Chad Jennings of The Athletic transcribed all of Ohtani’s comments, as translated into English by Ireton.
Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic was among those to relay a few days ago that Ireton would be serving as a translator for Ohtani in the wake of Mizuhara’s departure. Ireton served as Kenta Maeda’s translator when he was with the Dodgers and Ireton stayed an employee of the club after Maeda was traded to the Twins in 2020.
Reporting last week highlighted that over $4.5MM had been wired from an account in Ohtani’s name to the gambling ring. Mizuhara said that he racked up that debt by betting on sports other than baseball, then Ohtani wired the money to help him pay it off. Later, Ohtani’s attorneys contradicted the story, saying that Ohtani “had been the victim of a massive theft.” Ohtani’s version of events that he relayed today aligned with the theft story, accusing Mizuhara of using his account to wire the money and then lying about it.
Ohtani said that he was “saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this.” Ohtani stated that he has never bet on baseball or any other sports and has never gone through a bookmaker to bet on sports. “Up until a couple days ago, I didn’t know this was happening.” He also flatly denied the original version of events, wherein he supposedly sent the money to help his friend Mizuhara. “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies.”
The Dodgers were in Korea last week to play the Padres as part of the Seoul Series as the initial reporting on the story was coming to light. Ohtani stated today that the media in Korea inquired about the story but Ippei never told him about the media inquiry. Ippei then told the media and Ohtani’s representatives the version of events that involved Ohtani paying off the debt. “All of this has been a complete lie,” Ohtani said.
Ohtani says he first found out about Mizuhara’s gambling after the first game of the Seoul Series, when there was a team meeting in the clubhouse. “During the team meeting, obviously, Ippei was speaking English and I didn’t have a translator on my side. But even with that, I kind of understood what was going on and started to feel that there was something amiss.” Ohtani then states that he did not know until that meeting about Mizuhara’s gambling addiction or his debt. “Obviously, I never agreed to pay off the debt or make payments to the bookmaker.”
Ohtani then states that he and Mizuhara met one-on-one in a hotel room after the team meeting. “Ippei admitted that he was sending money, using my account, to the bookmaker.” Ohtani states he contacted his representatives at that point. “When I was finally able to talk to my representatives, that’s when my representatives found out that Ippei has been lying the whole time and that’s when I started contacting the Dodgers and my lawyers.” Ohtani states that his representatives and the Dodgers found out at that point that they were being lied to.
“My lawyers recommended that, since this is theft and fraud, that we have the proper authorities handle this matter.” He concluded by saying that “The season’s going to start so I’m obviously going to let my lawyers handle matters from here on out and I am completely assisting in all investigations that are taking place right now. I’m looking forward to focusing on the season. I’m glad that we had this opportunity to talk and I’m sure there will be continuing investigations moving forward. Thank you very much.”
On Friday, MLB announced that it its department of investigations formally began the process of investigating the matter. This is a developing story that will be updated as more information comes to light.
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Odd that even as a subscriber, I’m seeing that sponsored ad post for Factor. A bit disappointing. I get that they need to make money but what am I paying them for lmao
Agreed rct.
Agreed entirely that kind of annoyed me.
I thought paid subscribers were immune to ads?
No, we’re just immune to Covid. 😉
Idk, I find the ads more interesting than most of the comments on here. Ahahaha!
These 2 bone heads are just so stupid. Reality is the guy with no money will take the fall. The guy with the billion dollar contract will wash his hands of this whole thing.
MLB hires Sergeant Schultz to conduct gambling probe in locker room barracks of the Dodgers. He reports back to Colonel “Klink” Manfred that he found “Noth-ing, Noth-ing”.
Pete Rose, watching the episode at home, scoffs at the re-make, “It’s never as funny as the original”.
You pay subscription? Didn’t know I had to subscribe
Get a refund. Come back to the dark side.
I am not seeing any ads on my end.
@Yankee Clipper: I only see the separate post that is a sponsored post. It is below this post on the main page. I do not see any other ads.
No ads here.
Ohhhh, got ya!
You need a better tattoo artist.
Haha! Or I need to work on my flexibility to see it!
Not seeing ads
I don’t see any ads, although my subscription is to support the site
At least it wasn’t for DraftKings
Ad Block makes the tiresome advertising go away.
The ads are to distract us from Ohtanis addiction
I’m paid, too, but not seeing any ads. What I am seeing are the posts of those I’ve muted. Like to see that cleared up.
Ohtani spoke for 12 minutes and this is it? What did he say for the other 11 minutes and 30 seconds?
Lost in Translation, probably.
I mean, when you have to begin the season with a backup translator…
Albert, read the second paragraph (apparently for the first time) in this post where the reader is directed how to watch the full video of what was said. There you will discover “what he said for the other 11:30”.
Hahahaha
Ohtani said exactly what any guilty person would say.
If Ohtani gets away with this, then Rose and Shoeless need to be admitted to the HOF pronto.
Fans should boycott mlb until it gets done!
Is Ohtani in the hall? How the hell do they have to do with each other. Now if Ohtani gets away with this and get voted into the hall then I agree. Rose should be in regardless. Bonds should be in. Really none of this bothers me. Look at the lies and B.S. in other sports.
Why the big show for Ohtani if he didn’t personally bet on baseball or throw games?
As far as illegal betting it’s only illegal to us that post comments. If Ohtani suddenly endorsed a specific 24 presidential candidate then he would be found guilty and kicked to the curb. As long as he doesn’t say to much mark Cuban will have him on new billboard for “legal gambling in Texas”
He gave his account numbers, and log in information.
Ohtani should have never responded initailly or now. Talking will incriminate him to a crime. I dont believe his story is 100% accurate.
So, he never noticed over 4.5 million dollars wana missing form his account? Hmmmmmm smell like BS to me.
So guilty
Bull!
So dumb.
So taguchi
It’s tough to handle this fortune and fame
Everybody’s so different, I haven’t changed
Just leave a message
Maybe I’ll call.
We all know you were never exactly Johnny Hustle.
What a crock he was obviously betting on Ohtani’s behalf. Lifetime ban!
Okay Giants fan. Relax
@shadow
Hey now!! Us Giants fans don’t claim him.
I’m a Giants fan and I’m hoping Ohtani is clean, he’s good for the game. If he’s gambling on baseball though, they have precedents they need to follow.
I think that he probably was betting for Ohtani and I don’t care. You probably need to suspend Ohtani for a while since that’d be counter to State and Federal law, but not a full season and definitely not a life time ban.
And Yamamoto is in on it too !
Ohtani bet 4.5 million that Yamamoto would lose his debut
No bookie is going to just let someone run up $4.5 million in debt. Certainly not a translator making a reputed $100k a year. Now if it was Ohtani, sure they would let him run up a tab. The bookie likely felt he was placing bets for Ohtani. The $64,000 question is whether or not that was true.
The bookie may have let him run up the large debt hoping Ohtani would pay it off.
Doesn’t work like that. The bookie was running game through someone larger than himself. He’s not getting his thumbs sawed off by the triads or the mafia over “hoping” someone would pay off the debt.
jerseyjohn: I’m just speculating, but…Do you really think the bookies had a high degree of confidence that the interpreter was going to pay off $4.5M in debt by himself on his salary?
We’re all speculating for sure. I was saying the opposite. I feel that common sense points to the bookie knowing Ohtani was good for the debts not the interpreter. Until proven otherwise I feel these are bets placed for Ohtani with his knowledge.
jerseyjohn: That certainly would explain it.
Ohtani paid off the debt so how are his hands clean? F the Dodgers too BTW!
I see that the maroons are out in full force tonight. Ahahaha!
655 Responses
649 comments are hidden because you muted the comment authors.
If I haven’t gotten to you yet & I ask that you please bear with me. Ahahahaha!
A) They will IF blackmail, insider info and control is the end game.
B) The bookie got caught and he’s fairly young. Knows what he is doing?
C) A chance to take down the fav (again).
Manfred is bad for baseball ,bad for America. Gambling endangers the teams, the players and the players families.
Insider info on the Angels is not the type of thing you let someone run up $4.5m in debt for. The fact that he was also trying to pay back these debts kinda defeats that argument as well.
Stop trying to do the “smartest person in the room” schtick. You have no idea how involved Ohtani was. None.
On the other hand, only the more naive in the room would believe for a minute that a $4.5M line of credit would be extended to an interpreter.
@The Natural the most likely scenario is that the interpreter was using Ohtani’s name as a backer without Ohtani’s knowledge. That still doesn’t explain how Ippei had access to Ohtani’s bank account
Only if on the Angels. No baseball betting = No problem
Boycott mlb until he’s kicked out!
Astros got off with a slap on the wrist and that arguable costed Judge and other players millions in loses. Ohtani should get a pat on the back. Live and let live
All the while Pete Rose is banned permanently from baseball and being inducted into the Hall of Fame
He placed bets as a manager, not as a player
If Ohtani is guilty, he also should be banned from baseball
The rules are pretty clear about gambling. As long as you’re employed by a team and can have an impact on results or playing for a team and you bet on that team you’re subject to a lifetime ban as rose was.
Rose bet on baseball as a player.
abcnews.go.com/Sports/entries-long-hidden-notebook…
This keeps getting overlooked in the Rose debate. He was betting on baseball games as a MANAGER. Just because gambling is involved doesn’t mean the situations are comparable. The lifetime ban is justifiable to MLB based on his position as a manager.
I’m waiting for the federal investigation to conclude to make any judgement on Ohtani.
you conveniently left out the fact that he never bet on the Reds, the team he was playing for
Gol to the link. He bet on the Reds.
He was a player manager and bet on his team (to win).
Did he bet all 162 games? A no bet is the same as betting to lose.
Rose betting on his team as the manager is the same as insider trading.
Baseball should do a thorough investigation. Why just accept his or his attorney’s word. Rose and his attorneys denied that he bet on baseball too, if memory serves me correctly.
Difference is, Rose didn’t have a ready made patsy fall guy…
I can’t believe people are more outraged because of his gambling problem than him molesting a 13 year old…
This is a baseball webpage, third comment in is a dem making it about politics. They can’t help themselves. All they do is project their own intolerance onto others. The people who post all these comments about how conservatives think are just projecting their own hatred for the people they claim to care so much about. If Othani came out as a Trump supporter you would all want him destroyed instantly.
You caught me, Roy. I happily admit it, I hate Conservatives and if that includes you, all the better
@LoRH you just did the same. That makes you a hypocrite.
Good point,drasco, although I read she was 15, which is still abhorrent.
I have no qualms with Rose being banned for betting while he was a manager but he didn’t bet when he was a player and his lifetime stats are HOF credentials
Pete Rose dose not apply to this situation. He negotiated his punishment. He accepted never being allowed into the HOF. He accepted being banned permanently from baseball.
Re: Pete Rose How does it effect the integrity of the game if a Manager is betting on his own team to win??? How would he manage any differently?? Presumably every manager wants his team to win whether he has money wagered on the team or not.
Now of course, if you’re the manager and you’re betting on your team to lose, a guy could find all kinds of ways to sabotage his own team. But unless 90% of the team is in on it, you would get your a$$ called out pretty dang fast. It’s the ninth inning with a one run lead, instead of your closer you put in your worst relief pitcher and switch up your outfield defense with your slowest guys? Pretty freaking obvious.
And if you’re a player doing these things , it would be even more meaningless. If you’re a player betting on your own team, how does that effect the outcome of the game? If anything you’re trying harder to win and with more enthusiasm cuz you have money on the line.
If you’re a player and you’re betting on your team to lose…what does that look like? You go up to the plate and flail away. You make errors in the field on purpose. You get yourself injured (lol sounds like Anthony Rendon). But really it would take more than one guy to sabatoge a team, it would be pretty blatantly obvious, and your teammates would hate you. So again, like with the manager scenario…what would be the freaking incentive to do this? Anyway Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame.
If Pete Rose is banned from the HOF, they should remove all memorabilia of his that is spread all over HOF. They won’t because it’s a big attraction and that’s money. Do they ban him but make money off of him!
The court documents said 12-14 years old and Rose admitted to one relationship where he “thought she was 16”.
His memorabilia is in the museum, not in the HOF. Although as a pedo, none of it should be anywhere.
Pedophilia is attraction to pre-pubescient children. Rose is not a pedophile.
We as fans and true Americans should boycott MLB until Pete Rose is reinstated, Ohtani isn’t even gonna be suspended while being investigated, WTF???
Astros broke MLB rules. As such they received the hardest penalty MLB could enforce- fining them 5 mill and stripping them of 1st and 2ound round picks in 2020 and 2021. Dont like it? Take it up with the contract language at the time.
Ohtani possibly broke state and federal laws, which have their own punishments for doing such.
Lets get things into perspective here.
MLB had the option of vacating the World Series that the Astros won but did not take that action. Seems a far cry from your “hardest penalty MLB could enforce.”
Slippery slope when you start doing that stuff. Should we vacate World Series of known PED users? What about Rex Sox scandal in 2018? I get why mlb didn’t open that can of worms.
So, let’s say, MLB did stripped the Astros of that World Series. Now every gambling outlet has to either A) Ask for all those gamblers who bet on the Astros to win that series to give their winnings back. Or B) Pay out all of those bettors who bet on the Dodgers to win that series their money too! Because the Dodgers technically won the World Series because MLB stripped the Astros of the series. Thus the gambling companies would have to pay every bet that was made on that World Series. Causing every gambling company who took a bet to potentially go bankrupt. Plus, you also know there would be those idiots out there wanting interest on their $5 bet winnings since it took over a year to investigate or find there was cheating…. But I won X dollars and didn’t get paid until the investigation found the Astros guilty….I want my interest I lost on my winnings too!
Now, say you bet on the Astros to win and now have to give your winnings back to the gambling company you placed the bet on the Astros to win. Would you give the money you won back? Don’t lie.
Understand now why that World Series result stayed the way it ended. Yes, it was wrong and illegally won. But when there are millions of dollars bet on the sport. There would be complete chaos nullifying the cheating winning team and having to have those who bet on the cheating team to give their money back to pay everyone who bet on the team that got cheated. Or pay out every single bet that was made on the series.
It’s a lot easier to say, it was wrong. Your team and organization are being punished X. DON’T EVER DO IT AGAIN! End of story.
There are rules set up in advance that stipulate these sort of contingencies. Whatever the results of the World Series are one hour after the final out is made is how you would get paid out. Normally you have up to 180 days to collect your winnings. If the results of the World Series get vacated after those 180 days it’s a moot point. If you haven’t collected your winnings within the 180 Days AND the results of the World Series get vacated you will likely just get your original wager back. So no, there’s nobody who would be running you down for their money back if the results of the WS get vacated a year down the road or whatever.
I agree with you 100%, ignorance of the law is no excuse, learned that in business 101!
Yankees had their sign stealing covered up by Manfredn. That’s fact.
Yet he failed to mention anything about this until gambling scandal started. Ohtani is lying and I love it. More drama for the Dodgers.
Failed to mention the thing he is saying he just found out about? Why yes, yes he failed to mention that…
There’s just no way he “just found out.” If that is the case, he needs to fire his entire accounting and finance staff and also pay a law firm to investigate THEM to see if they were in on the scam. There’s simply no way his business team missed 9 — count ’em — half-million dollar transfers to a bookie’s account over two years. They wouldn’t have missed $50 if it was wired to an unfamiliar, unnamed bank account without asking Shohei.
That’s the story right now. Let’s see what happens. Right?
Completely agree Seam
Unless he’s being screwed over by everyone that works for him there is no way that someone didn’t see those transfers.
also, what bank was this so i know not to do my banking there when i make my millions.
There’s not an accounting firm that’ll touch this stuff if they suspicion fraud now. Not after Enron. My wife is a partner in a CPA firm that’s refused clients larger than Ohtanis personal value.
It usually takes about 3 people to steal millions from a rich guy who doesn’t pay much attention to money.
Exactly.
If I were to start making as much money as Ohtani does, I’d check my account every day to make sure everything is ok. Either he’s lying (I’m sure he is), or he’s a fool.
You wouldn’t have to check it daily; weekly would be good enough.
What makes anybody think he has a “business team?”
What bank sees $4.5 million being withdrawn and doesn’t verify with the person who owns the account? If they did and found it was Ohtani than I believe Ippie is the fall guy protecting Ohtani.
Ippie is the Fall guy
If you think about it, their moniker fits them perfectly.
Agree 100%!!! Tell me of two guy buddies you are all but living with 24/7 for years and NEVER ONCE did you say to your best guy buddy… Look at the money I won on this X bet, or CRAP!!! I was this close to winning millions on that bet I made on X. If they just would have scored that “one” goal… not been fouled on that “last” free throw… if that damn field goal kicker wouldn’t had missed that 20 yard field goal kick in the last seconds of the game! (Or since they say they aren’t lying, but obviously are… if X wouldn’t have swung at the ball in the dirt on that last strike with the bases loaded!)
Come on Ohtani? You really believe all of us believe you knew nothing of Ippei’s gambling until he told you last week after that spring training meeting and you notice something didn’t seem right being said in the meeting. And this was because your interpreter was speaking English, instead of speaking Japanese for you, his employer?
You are as much of a liar as Ippei!
Exactly! Where’s the emotion of someone who was betrayed by their closest friend who stole $4.5M from them?? Why did it take Shohei *SO* long to call his interpreter a liar? Because he had to wait for his legal team to coordinate a strategy…
Exactly! If someone I trusted steals from me, I’d be steaming, no matter how rich I am, Japanese with no honor!
Mmmmm I don’t know, I foolishly gamble but it’s not something I ever bring up with my non-gambling buddies because they could care less. Supposedly Shoehei hates anything to do with sports betting so I could see why Ippei wouldn’t want to broach the subject with him. It’s never fun getting shamed by your goody-two shoe friends who think they are morally above gambling.
Or ‘Shohei hates anything to do with sports betting’ is something his PR team put out to make him appear less guilty.
If Ohtani hates everything to do with sports betting. What seems like his closest friend and confidante just got pinched. I can’t imagine him not knowing this detail about his friend. He never dotted the i on the danger? If he’s a lesser citizen I know exactly what I’d think.
As fans eagerly await the return of baseball, Major League Baseball (MLB) and FanDuel Group, the premier online gaming company in North America, today announced a multi-year partnership making its industry-leading sportsbook a co-exclusive Official Sports Betting Partner of MLB.Mar 2, 2023
I don’t know why people think a player being involved in betting on games and a sport taking money from sports gambling companies are anything like the same thing. Except just lazy thinking. The money from FanDuel comes from their profits. They’re the house. Their profits don’t depend at all on any outcome.
The implication for the league is the same as with the players. There’s potential for gambling interests to influence the game. Gambling is the largest sponsor of the NFL.
The fact is that it’s all about the perception of integrity. Lose that and the game is just the WWE
Having a gambling co. be the sponsor of your sports product definitely doesn’t help the perception of integrity.
How do you tap into someone’s bank account for $4.5M and no one knows about it?
I was just about to say this. something just seems off about it.
agreed. That seems dubious
When he’d have been personally notified about the transactions.
You know, all the facts have yet to be revealed. There have been bigger heists in history. Some people are professional con men. Having Shohei’s trust and having visibility on everything he does is a tool a fraud could exploit. Gambling is an addiction that can make people do criminal things to get the satisfaction.
The Juice, he’s not playing to win, he’s playing to lose. Gambling is terrible disease.
LATrolley- Gambling is an addiction that can involve organized crime and its potential to blackmail MLB personnel. If NOTHING this gets REALLY close. RICO statutes are involved in this case. To have the games greatest player and marketing star THIS close to it…if not involved….should scare MLB and other sports to death.
But there’s more fishy stuff. The fact that his camp changed the story is a big one, also how does the interpreter get a $4.5m credit line with the bookie? He doesn’t make nearly enough to get anything near that.
No way a lending institution doesn’t contact Ohtani, my lending bank contacts me if they don’t recognize $50 charge!
News Flash: Ohtani is good a hitting and throwing a baseball, but is really dumb. It’s actually possible, people. He’s dumb.
Dumb isn’t a court plead. Ignorance of the law isn’t an excuse. Especially as a baseball player
Obtani makes around $65 million a year in endorsements. He probably couldn’t tell you how much he has in the bank at any given time.
That number can’t be true
Aye, you’d be right. I grabbed his income + endorsements. He made about $40m in endorsements last year.
latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2024-02-08/shohei….
That’s only income from America.
He makes much more in Japan. Estimated between 50 and 70 mill per year
$35 million in endorsements last year total. That includes international.
If you are quoting Sportico you are 100% sure to be wrong.
Why does an interpreter have access to the account?
They’re “real” close. Ahahaha!
How many times have we read about celebrities who were taken for millions of dollars? What do some of you think, Ohtani was staying up late every night balancing his checkbook? He has people to do that. Let’s let this play out.
Yeah but it’s usually by a manager or an accountant or an agent.
And you seriously believe being close guy buddies all those years Ohtani NEVER once had Ippei say a single word to him about winning X dollars on that bet he made? Or crap! I could have won X hundreds, thousands, or millions of dollars on that bet in the last seconds of the game?
He first found out that Ippei had been gambling after that spring training meeting last week? Come on! Be real!
Apparently, you’re not a real guy!
He has people to do that.
==================
And that’s exactly what makes this suspicious.
The most Ohtani has ever made from endorsements was $35 million in 2023. He made $20 million in 2022, $6 million in 2021. $1.25 million in 2020. Less than that prior to 2020.
The gambling that is being talked about here took place from 2021 through early 2023 with the final 2 payments being made to the bookie in 2023.
After taxes in the US and Japan plus taxes in CA plus what he has to pay his attorney’s, accountants, trainers, and marketing team plus his mortgages in 2 countries investments, and other expenses, if he had 10% of his total earnings to that date in the bank and liquid I would be highly surprised. Almost forgot, his agent gets 3-5% of his gross upfront.
All that adds up to him maybe having a $4-5 million in his bank account. .
And I believe the alarms would have gone off to SOMEONE other than his interpreter.
Ohtani finds out AT the twzm meeting? Not buying that.
But he has people on payroll that do. He might not have been personally aware when the transactions happened, but someone should have caught it.
With most cases where you see rich people have a lot of money disappear it’s their accountant/business manager/etc, not their interpreter. There really is no reason that he should have been able to accumulate that much gambling debt, had access to Ohtani’s account to steal money on multiple occassions and then never had to answer questions about the transfer after the fact.
The wire transfers could not have been made without Ohtani or his accountant/financial manager being part of it or both. Probably both.
Yes but the bank does and knows when there is a major withdrawal, especially when there are 9 withdrawals of $500K!
Somebody’s never seen office space lol.
Cool. So cyber forensic analysis of where the money originated from will show the money originated on Ippei’s device and not Shohei’s right?
Ohtani: he also had access to my phone passwords and computer passwords
Logic: your phone has face ID recognition, so does your bank apps.
Ohtani: he mustve unlocked it while I was sleeping obviously.
Logic: ok, so how come your accountants, your financial advisors, banks never alerted you? How come first you were hearing about these totals was the ESPN interview? moving anything over 10,000 is automatically reported to the IRS and you never received any alerts about large sums being moved out of your bank, 500,000 twice and 4.5 mill (about 10% of your earnings at the time) being removed?
Ohtani: nope just people trying to reach me about my cars extended warranty.
Dodger fans: checks out hes innocent!
Gambling is a helluva drug. Ippei Mizuhara may still owe Bowyer $3.5MM. He may have needed to send $500k or $1MM to keep his account active with him. More truth will be revealed when we know more about what happens with Mizuhara and the consequences he may face. I’m not buying Ohtani’s account by any means.
Doubt anyone actually faces consequences.
If anything feds will cut Mizuhara a deal to testify against Bowyer and incriminate any other people of interest. At best he’s given a few year at worst he does his time. But I honestly think he goes back home to Japan before being put in that situation. Is the USA going to demand he be handed over? Doubtful. Hell his deal might involve revoking his citizenship work visa or whatever documents he had to be here with Ohtani as his translator and returning a “criminal” back to their country of origin.
Far as Ohtani itll get swept under the rug whatever his involvement.
I’ve mentioned in a previous post what you’ve noted and agree. Mizuhara can cut a deal with the feds. Japan has an extradition treaty with the U.S. but Japan doesn’t have to fulfill their request. This isn’t high priority for either countries. Japan will want to squash this quietly for the sports’ sake so no reason to hand him over.
Up to 20 years RICO statute violation for the guilty wire party. Kinda doubt the Feds just deport on that. Feds like to make names for themselves too. Ask Barry Bonds.
You’re assuming Mizuhara is still in the country.
Well it’s strip re entry into the country, deports him, and takes down as many big involvers in under ground gambling as they can.
Bowyer is the fish. He’s the one feds were after. Not so much the foreign interpreter making 300k a year.
I think feds being able to say we’ve stopped and seized billions worth in illegal gambling $ would be a nice pat on the back for them. Similar to drug busts. They celebrate catching big players and $ value of stuff they seize
Mizuhara is American, grew up in Anaheim. He’s already lied changing details of his story.
…born in Japan
Is he really? I thought him and shohei were childhood friends.
That’s what his wiki states. They met in 2013. I’ve done enough speculating lol. Japanese media is reporting that the bank account accessed was for charity/donations purposes. It was reported last year that Ohtani purchased 60k gloves for kids in Japan. If there is a history of moving large sums of money, banks may not require anything more than two-factor authentication.
60k is a far cry from 500k
And purchasing is different than a wire transfer. Using your debit card to buy stuff works differently than authorizing money be taken from your account and sent to a different account at same or different banks.
Two different processes.
Sixty-thousand gloves.
Or I thought those alerts on my phone were Sirius alerts that this was my last chance to sign up for this Sirius offer. I just deleted them.
Post of the year! What’s funny is most dodger fans aren’t speaking up which tells me a lot about how “innocent” this Japanese “perfect person” is (quite the opposite, liar with no honor, more like it!
How about some investigated facts before making uninformed comments? So much happens behind the scenes. It’s hard to believe MLB would kill their unicorn.
Really? Rose was the all-time hits leader, and Bonds was the HR leader, but Ohtani is more important to the game than either of them?
Rose and Bonds weren’t tasked with “saving baseball”. MLB would protect Shohei even if he were blatantly caught red handed (I’m not implying he has been but if he were it wouldn’t matter).
You know this is Rumors?
No, it’s really not. Money went from Ohtani’s account to a Cali bookie who was under federal investigation. Those are facts. Anything more than that is just a rumor.
Go ahead and start the long thread of ridiculously stupid comments. Ohh wait…
He’s doing what his legal team is telling him he has to do. As someone who believes the first version of Ippei’s testimony, I legit feel bad for him in losing a close friend. But my casual fandom of Ohtani drops a couple noches seeing him comply to the external pressure. Assuming he was involved in paying for his friend’s non-baseball gambling addiction, it would be better for him to just rip up the prepared statement, give it to people straight, and take the consequences.
Ohtani has always struck me as kind of a dumb innocent. Highly controlled (and obviously insanely physically gifted and hard working) but in the end not a very sharp tool.
I think he uses the language barrier to his convenience. A lot of people have been in the states less than he has, and can at least carry on a broken conversation.
Mostly agree. He’s probably brilliant but has mostly applied that to baseball excellence to this point. Definitely acquiescing to other parties here.
That’s funny, because that’s the way you’ve always struck me, minus the insanely gifted & hard working part of course. Ahahaha!
If the first version of the story was correct, accusing your best friend of several felonies–whom you were close enough with to give (or loan) $4.5MM to pay off his gambling debts–is a pretty strange pivot. Especially when the only thing you would have been doing wrong in that situation was the tax issue that you can just report and correct.
I’m waiting for more facts, but that’s hard to buy. Not noticing $4.5MM of theft is hard to buy too. The whole situation smells.
If the original version was correct that would be a huge issue for MLB and Ohtani.
Given someone money for gambling is the same as gambling yourself, so it’s not a strange pivot at all. It’s probably what really happened and they had to pull it back.
I would think if paying off a debt to a drug dealer is legit, then paying off a debt to a gambling bookie would be legit. Does anybody know if it’s okay to pay off somebody’s debt to a prostitute or pimp?
Gambling debts to bookies arent collectable. Anyone who thinks a bookie would allow 4 mil in debt to accumulate to someone who isnt a multimillionaire is crazy. The bookie could leverage Shoheis name and reputation to collect.
Well how did Ohtani’s translator get the swift #?
Who was the Bank that did the transfer?
The Bank’s wire Departmet has to receive a Bank wire Transfer authorization form and the you need to put a reason on that form and then the bank’s wire department has to verify with the person who wants to send the transfer and make sure they are authorized to do so aka the signor on the ank account
It is a big pain in the butt
Did everyone involved Standard Operating Procedure?
SMH
Yeah, i dont think Shohei understands hes saying his bank did not following protocol to ensure the account holder was indeed the one issuing these large $ transfers.
Which, Ippei may be willing to take the fall (10, 20+ years is a long time but he will probably mysteriously disappear and wind up in a country that wont extradite)……. but i doubt a big bank is going to feel the same way about being labeled incompetent handling people’s money which can and will affect their business.
The Bank is heavily regulated and has to answer to a higher authority
It is serious and they typically take it seriously
The financial institution is going to come out with reports of exactly what was done to ensure that Ohtani was indeed aware and approving these transactions.
The company I own makes and receives multiple transactions like this every week and the process is painstaking. Very few we make are for $500,000 though. There are multiple steps and contacts in our company including often me personally.
From the few times I have had to make large transfers from my personal accounts, I know that it takes even more for a person then a corporation.
I have no doubt the bank will do whatever it takes to protect its reputation and not be punished by feds for failing to follow protocol.
It was probably the bank that notified the Feds.
How much you wanna bet those transactions will be burned or buried upon concluding their “investigation”. Fans need to boycott MLB bc we all know how this is gonna end, the fact that he is still playing is clue #1 that he will get away with it. He should’ve been suspended already while they “investigate”.
Isn’t Ohtani a big soccer betting degen?
He’ll get off because he’s the biggest thing going.
Pete Rose will continue to be blackballed — for the same bleeping thing.
Pete Rose was “the biggest thing going” too. Or very nearly so. He’s an all-time great.
I don’t think their status or stats make the situation the same. The fact of the matters is when Rose did it, gambling was federally illegal and society’s perception was collectively much more negative. At this point it’s basically legal (but for a few states who are continually legalizing more and more), and society has mostly accepted the practice. Lots of friends and family have apps and speak publicly about playing in games, it’s not as much of a moral pariah.
So during Rose, MLB had to protect their reputation as well as their product from loss of sponsors or further attacks by legislators with an axe to grind or trying to make a name for themselves. At this point, a senator basing their name on individual gambling witch hunts would be mocked and they know it. There are bigger global items for them to pursue.
“Lots of friends and family have apps and speak publicly about playing in games, it’s not as much of a moral pariah.”
Hold that thought!!! You just said the $4.5 million statement that will be Ohtani’s downfall that he is absolutely lying about this story.
He said right there in his… I’m shocked and innocent press conference. I knew nothing about Ippei’s gambling until he told me about it this past week after the spring training meeting.
According to you (and everyone else in this world knows) no friend or family member can keep quiet about playing games (betting).
So, we are to believe his press conference story that he had absolutely no knowledge Ippei was gambling? How did Ohtani not know an absolute thing about Ippei not gambling until after than spring training meeting this past week? After all those years of being the closest of friends.
Ippei never once said, I won X dollars on this bet I made? Or oh CRAP! I just lost X dollars on that bet and was this close to winning hundreds, thousands or millions dollars on that bet?
SERIOUSLY!!!??? Anyone who believes that story is an illusional Dodger fan who can’t face the truth that their hero was just found guilty of illegally gambling and is lying through their teeth to protect themselves and the Dodger Blue nation.
Ummmm maybe because he was using Shohei’s money to cover his bets? Ippei is not going to do somersaults of joy in front of Shohei when he wins a bet using Shoehei’s money, plus the fact that Shohei hates sports betting so there would be no joy to share.
Syrah has clearly not thought things through. Tunnel vision is his super power.
‘..the fact that Shohei hates sports betting ..’
There is no such fact. Shohei and his people can say anything but it doesnt make it true.
Well there’s also the whole betting on baseball difference. Even if Ohtani was the one betting, if it was never on baseball, that’s a fundamental difference from what Rose did and not against MLB’s gambling policy in and of itself.
How do you really know for a fact? The whole investigation is just beginning.
So he’s not the face of baseball? Your comment is the ridiculous one.
His response makes perfect sense, unless you’re just willfully ignorant. Maybe you should practice what you preach, lil fella.
@sn33 Don’t worry about it sn33, as you can see we have the brightest minds at MLBTR working on the problem and have it practically solved already lol.
Boycott MLB!
Obviously the Feds were too tied up with P Diddy today to deal with Shohei Rose, but it’s coming. Lifetime ban and immediate deportation please and thank you.
H8R gonna H8.
You know what will solve everything; steal a team from Oakland and move them to Las Vegas. That will is the optics MLB needs!
Oakland didn’t want a team. Except for the few elderly whiners who still haven’t moved on. They stole the A’s from Kansas City in the first place!
Still think it would be cool if the A’s remained in Philly….
So many who know so little about so much.
Ohtani just added another crime to his list. False accusations is a crime. Mizuhara could not have made a wire transfer of over $10k without Ohtani’s involvement.
That is something to think about. I have never transferred that much money before so I don’t know the protocols, but I would imagine there would be some right?
Anything under $10K is considered a gift to the IRS.
Shohei is a whole brand. There’s money coming and going through that everyday. People commit fraud and steal all the time. IM was in a perfect position to exploit Shohei. There is still a lot of information to be revealed and the fed investigation will do that. I’m just pointing out that it’s not out of the realm of possibility that someone could figure out a way to launder money and exploit a cash cow especially after having the accessibility that IM had.
Similar to how many pro athletes in the past have been swindled by “trusted” business managers and close confidantes. Some even from within their own families.
LATrolley. All that is possible. But the federal laundering system triggers at 10k. There’s 4.5M moved in sums of atleast 500k. Someone at the FDIC, wherever else…they’re going to make a personal contact go someone that’s NOT that interpreter.
This smells to high heaven
So a high school educated translator, with no known financial background, is able exploit an international cash cow stealing millions and generating multiple $500k wire transfers? And the wherewithal to hide it from it from him, his money managers, accountants, the bank?
Doesn’t pass the smell test, does it?
If the translator had help. I’d suspicion it’s from mob ties of the bookmaker. That’s super ugly for baseball.
FinCen would be involved as well as the IRS.
If it were his accountant, that’d make sense, but it wasn’t.
Ok, fine let’s play your silly game. How do u explain not being suspended while investigations take place?? DUH!! U were better off stopping after the first cpl sentences. So obvious there’s gonna be no investigation, just a coverup! Dodgers will have a huge target on their back this season if justice isn’t done. Worse than Astros in 2018! (after cheating in 2017 playoffs) -response was for dodger fan!
Bookies always give guys who make $300k per year $500k or more in credit, right?
That part I sort of understand. He might have told the bookie that Shohei was good for it, and the bookie didn’t check.
If the bookie thinks Ohtani is good for it the bookie also thinks Ohtani is making the bets.
Bookies aren’t the type to just trust folks for hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. This isn’t a line of credit at the MGM Grand.
I don’t how big Bowyer’s operation was. Bookies can keep extending credit to a client if they keep giving them referrals to other gambling whales. Ohtani could have very well vouched for him not understanding the extent of Mizuhara’s habit. We’ll never know. Mizuhara was probably so far in the hole in the beginning that he was never going to see a single dollar hit his own bank account. Bookies can absolutely leverage an addict in exchange to keep providing them action.
All the bookie would have had to do was ask any one of Ohtani’s fans on MLBTR.
And the bookie would have known Ohtani was not good for any of those bets Ippei was making over his salary…. Because Ohtani is totally against gambling and would never even have talked to Ippei about gambling. Or Ippei would never even think about mentioning it to his best buddy in the world, Ohtani. Because he knew Ohtani was that much against gambling. Look! Ohtani never even realized Ippei was gambling until just last week.
The bookie had to know all of those inside tips that Ohtani was not good for covering Ippei’s debt! Couldn’t he?
It’s hard to believe the bookie would have been so gullible to believe that Ohtani would never cover Ippei’s bets. With all those known facts all over baseball, the internet, and the world that Ohtani would NEVER bet or cover his little buddy Ippei’s bets. I mean every one of Ohtani’s fans knows this for a fact!
The bookies need to talk to these player’s fans first to know the players better than anyone else in the world does and what the player and their fans say IS the absolute truth!!!
I mean look at all of the Brewers’ Ryan Braun fans who knew he never took steroids and swore he was being totally honest when Braun claimed he never took steroids and his sample was tampered with while being delivered to the testing facility. Braun’s fans were absolutely right! Right?
Look at all the Astros fans who knew the Astros never cheated. Their Astros fans were right too! Right?
Look at all of the Ohtani fans who knew he did not wire money to the bookie or…. They were right! Right? Right? Right….
There are a slew of state and federal charges coming. Let it play out.
And I’d say we hear more names than Yasiel Puig.
I would be interested in finding out exactly what games this “thief” bet on.
i
Pete Rose on line 1.
The truth doesn’t take a week to come up with. He probably was just helping out his friend, until he realized how much trouble that could get him in and now he’s lying.
I’d like to believe this. Really it is the best outcome for all involved.
I doubt it, but I’d like to.
While Pete Rose played in the majors he was tied to the minors…
That went way over most people’s head. Well played.
He said, he said
I kinda find it funny that all of a sudden some folks believe you that it’s impossible to get a hold of someone’s information. My people, this stuff happens on a daily basis to folks.
Also those same people seem to know an awful lot about bookies…
people wire $500k of other people’s money via a bank every day?
Lots of people being prosecuted for wire fraud on a daily basis I guess.
Getting a hold of the information is one thing, but you have to sign a wire transfer form and then they call you to confirm
There is a process!!!!! SMH
Just for fun, how many people have their interpreter steal $4.5M from them?
I have done a wire transfer for more than $500k and had more than $500k wire transferred to me.
Clients of my firm used us to facilitate transfers of that size weekly and sometimes daily.
Not once did the account holder not have knowledge of the transfer. I don’t believe its possible.
Five years in the U.S. and still can’t read a rudimentary statement in English? Sorry this statement reads like a lawyered up were getting kicked out of baseball statement.. He doesn’t know how his interpreter got his bank account information? LOL.. Ok Dodgers… You have a BIG $700 MILLION DOLLAR problem..
Zero chance I would ever read anything with legal implications in my second language.
I know for a fact Ohtani speaks conversational English with his teammates. But this is an entirely different arena.
That’s so not to alienate his countrymen back home. Ichiro used an interpreter his entire career. Many Latin players do the same thing. Most of them do speak English. And what @HalosHeavenJJ said.
I how many languages do you speak?
The Dodgers don’t have a big $700 million problem. If Ohtani is banned, the organization doesn’t pay. There will be language in his contract addressing issues like this.
Most dodger fans aren’t delusional like u see here with an occasional fan defending Japan’s “perfect person”. Live out in Vegas and talk to a lot of them here and they know he’s full of it!
His interpreter speaks to the clubhouse BEFORE informing Ohtani? Right…
Sorry,there’s just a LOT here not making sense. Feds do your job on this bookie.
Great point. That is not believable.
In a Dodgers Ohtani fan mind that would make all the sense in the world.
He was asking each and every English speaking player for $500,000 to cover the total 4.5 million debt.
When all of the players said no, then he turned to his good buddy Ohtani after the meeting.
Only when Ohtani turned him down was when he decided to call Ohtani’s bank and speak Japanese and say please make two transfers for $500,000 to…
That was how the Dodgers front office caught onto his gambling and then fired him. It was when he asked each player on the team for $500,000 in the meeting.
See! It’s all beginning to make Dodger Blue sense now. Free Ohtani!
Geez! Even my story sounds more believable than the stories that those two told this past week!
This problem has far more questions than answers. It’s not going away until there are satisfactory answers to those questions.
I’m not confident that the full truth will be released to the public.
U think? Money Manfred needs a real boycotting to let him know who’s really in charge. The fact that Ohtani is getting ready for opening day shouldn’t set right with any fan right now
These comments are giving me a stroke
Don’t love having to see the Factor ad.
Deport and ban! BUILD A WALL. That’s all for you Steve, my liberal friend.
The only “Facts” we know at the moment are this. Millions of dollars have been wired from Ohtani to an Illegal bookie. This is on federal record and indisputable. That is a crime he is guilty of and he needs to prove he is innocent of it. If all we have is his word against his translators, then sorry, guilty as charged. You wired money to an illegal bookie
Isn’t it innocent until proven guilty? The feds or the state can bring charges against him if they have enough evidence to do so. Then, if it goes to trial, they’ll need to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
Wire transfers from his account to an illegal bookie proves he is guilty. Full stop. He can either provide evidence to explain why this crime occurred, or he can plead guilty, which he obviously isn’t doing. Saying, “I didn’t do it” is not a credible defense, otherwise, nobody would be in jail lol
cl
“Wire transfers from his account to an illegal bookie proves he is guilty. ”
False
Please never be a juror
Then they should have no problem bringing a charge and getting a conviction. That’s when he’ll be proven guilty, until then, he should be viewed as innocent.
There are A LOT of people commenting on here that shouldn’t be jurors.
alyellon
“until then, he should be viewed as innocent.”
By the law.
A person does not have to assume innocence. And they shouldn’t ,really, they not assume anything.
The wire transfers came from his bank account. That’s indisputable
His current defense is: i didn’t know he was a gambling addict and he stole money from me
The former defense was: ohtani was ignorant about US laws, helped a friend out whose safety could be in jeopardy, never gambled himself.
Pointing the finger at Ippei saying he stole from me that’s why the wire transfers are from my bank account well it’s up to them to prove he did in fact steal the money either by Ippei confessing to multiple felonies or proving transfers happened via his devices.
Wire transfers originating from ohtanis accounts and ohtanis devices doesn’t prove ippei stole money.
If that’s the defense they’re going with they will need to back up their defense with facts or Ippei admitting to doing such whether true or not.
You don’t need to charges to assume guilt or a crime took place. Innocent people are charged all the time and guilty people see charges never brought against them. Court of public opinion operates differently than the justice system too.
Looking forward to Ippei Mizuhara’s future role as spokesperson for Fanduels.
We’re not going to know anything additional about this for quite some time. If I’m a Dodgers fan (I’m not), then my main concern is how will this impact Ohtani’s performance as he clearly depended on this guy for all normalcy in his life.
It’s an interesting discussion when teams get paid via advertising and sponsorships with gambling outfits, yet the players can’t touch. Not advocating that the players could or should, but perhaps the leagues should set the example and clear out any revenue generated by a source that they prohibit their own in and a field that causes addiction and harm. Money is important, but so are ethics.
I agree. The irony of it all is just hilarious. Although I personally hate sports betting (and the relentless ads) and feel it will eventually be the demise of pro sports. Only a matter of time before we start seeing players/coaches/refs blow games.
I agree with you too!
They preach and have rules absolutely no betting on baseball for their players.
Yet they advertise everywhere during their pre game shows, during games and on the post game shows the betting apps, the odds on betting on such and such and the payouts.
And who are most likely to become bettors? The sport fanatics. I don’t ever recall seeing bookworms or geeks becoming bettors. And they definitely would not be betting on baseball games.
So, who are they selling to become bettors? The baseball fans and baseball players.
It’s one screwed up sport!
Plain and simple….. MLB needs this covered up asap and that statement wasn’t prepared by him or even the Dodgers. This is all the MLB PR team doing everything to sweep it under the rug. No way you don’t realize you’re missing $4.5 million up until 2 days ago. Especially since he hasn’t even collected anything from his $700 million contract.
I mean it’s unlikely, but he has made about 42 million in his career just from the Angels, I’m sure his sponsorship money is crazy.
I still think seeing it drop that much should be noticeable for most people, but I’m guessing at this point he’s not look at his balances at all, why would he need to?
Even if he doesn’t, shouldn’t someone on his team be doing that? Unless his interpreter was doubling as his accountant, this makes no sense.
L14
“Plain and simple…..”
But enough about your intelligence
Why would his statement be prepared by him, the Dodgers or MLB and not, you know, his lawyers?
Of course it’s a coverup! What kind of investigation is it when the player under investigation isn’t suspended. Such a bad look and a boycott of MLB is in order!
Wo
“Of course it’s a coverup! What kind of investigation ”
What kind of conclusion is arrived at before the investigation?
Troll
All to squeaky clean. “I was totally in the dark” etc etc. Not adding up
Why did he need to keep looking down at a statement for this? Shoulda been pretty simple to just tell the truth. Dude is full of sushi…
The coverup is almost always worse than the crime. Sure hope he’s legit been taken advantage of or else he’s cooked even more now.
If there is a cover up, we need a whistleblower.
Sorry, we’re fresh out of whistleblowers can we interest you in a snowblower? Ahahaha!
Ohtani is just as dumb as I thought he was.
So is Ippei in jail now or what?
His story doesn’t add up , too many holes
Not sure this was covered further up the thread, but isn’t there an issue with just transferring $4.5 million? Don’t you need to report transfers of amounts that large? I can’t really see(whatever government department is in charge) allowing individuals to transfer millions of dollars around without proper reporting? Surely they keep track of these things to try to track drug money, trafficking, etc around the world?
The whole thing seems a bit sketch to me; or maybe I’m just getting old and cynical.
I think Othani’s dog knows the truth. Give me five !!
“I’m shocked, shocked to find gambling at this establishment!”
“Here’s your winnings Mr. Ohtani.”
“I’ve never bet on *checks notes* baseball, or *checks notes again* any other sport.” Seems legit
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. There is a precedent of MLB not suspending a player that violates their betting policy, so long as the player did *not* bet on baseball. Like most people, I assume MLB would be ecstatic if they only had to fine Ohtani.
Unlike other cases, I assume the case evidence against Ohtani, or lack thereof, will determine MLB’s response in this case.
Clip, I think that prohibition against placing any kind of bets with unlicensed sports betting agents is the only thing at stake with MLB so far. There doesn’t seem to be any limit to the amount of any bet in MLB regulations. It only demands that licensed venues be used to place bets which did not seem to happen in this case. There have been no arrests or formal charges yet. The lead investigative agency is the IRS and it conducted the raid on the bookie’s house in October 2023 to seize records. I have read that this raid of Bowyer’s house is from the same task force investigating illegal sports gambling on an international scale. The government’s ultimate goal will be to coerce Bowyer into divulging useful information in exchange for a lighter sentence if the government has a solid case against him. A major aspect in the differences between MLB and government regulations is that baseball people betting on baseball games isn’t a crime with the authorities but it is deserving of the “death sentence” or permanent banishment in MLB. However, simply using a bookie for anything has only been worth a fine in MLB’s recent past.
BS! He broke the local gambling laws and should be enough to suspend him until “investigation” is complete. We all know there won’t be one tho
Well, the Federal investigation is focused on the bookmaker, Bowyer. Determining if any local gambling laws were broken is not the business of the IRS. Local authorities have stated that they have no investigations in progress so there is no basis to suspend Shohei. If Shohei is involved, the forensic analysis of Bowyer’s seized financial records should reveal this. It has been recently mentioned that Homeland Security is also investigating so have no doubt they will get to the bottom of this. When they do, everyone who deserves a grand jury indictment will get one.
Ohtani betts, but will be a freeman.
Im putting my money on his visitors seeing him behind glasnow when he gets the Max. Will be a real life Kershawshank Redemption.
Bauer beware.
He won’t be able to Hide(o) behind his translator Nomo.
All I know is there are a lot of Dodgers fans crying the Blues!
BOYCOTT MLB!
If MLB wants a hard stance on gambling then they also need to ban baseball being part of legal bet sites and ban the companies from sponsorships.
Ofcourse they won’t do that because they are greedy pigs, so instead the rules should be changed. Have all players be able to bet on everything besides baseball, they just have to register an account with the league.
Anyone else with Ohtani’s money can bet on march madness with large sums legally, why shouldn’t he?
They already can gamble legally per MLB. Just not on baseball.
Sports gambling is ILLEGAL in California. And betting with an ILLEGAL bookie is against federal law.
Try to keep up.
See I googled the first part and learned something new, so thank you for that. Too bad you had to ruin it by being a dbag in the end, but I’m sure you just can’t help yourself.
Much easier to pretend you’re the victim than just admit you were ignorant, huh?
That’s what Ohtani did!
lol who’s acting like a victim and I clearly admitted that I was wrong. Are you able to read ?
Ohtani is free to blow his money anyway he chooses… unless he bet on baseball. I can think of no other reason that would cause this story to be so big and important.
Gambling in California is illegal.
Ohtani could be telling the truth.
A couple of counter points to think about:
– Mizuhara is going to jail for a long time on multiple State and Federal charges. This would be a very big bullet for him to take.
– Ohtani may have been using Mizuhara as more than an interpreter. More like a personal assistant who could have had access to all his financial information.
– The initial story might have been Mizuhara trying to cover his butt one last time and was lying through his teeth to the reporter.
I’m not saying he’s innocent.
I’m saying there is possibility.
There’s no way someone doesn’t know his best friend is stealing millions of dollars over time in several transactions. Ippei is a sacrificial lamb.
It is hard to believe he didn’t know his close friend was addicted to gambling.
Sho is already a problem LA. Thank you, San Francisco
Got to love America, where you are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law but can be tried, convicted, drawn and quartered in the time it takes to turn on a lightbulb.
None of you know what’s going on here. This all got started because the feds were looking into the illegal bookmaker. And it just got started. There is still a lot to be uncovered. Jump to conclusions, rush to judgement, leap off the cliffs of insanity all you want. But don’t expect any action until the facts are more fully flushed out.
For now, I will take Ohtani at his word until proven otherwise. The feds will do their investigation and so will MLB. IF he bet illegally, there will be consequences both from the feds and from MLB. A lengthy suspension would be likely from MLB. IF he bet on baseball, he will be banned as is the rules of the game. No amount of fame will save him from that. There will be too much public pressure to allow MLB to go light on him. Those are big IF’s mind you. So let the investigations shed the light and see what is found.
This has noting to do with The Astros. They were given the maximum penalty under the ownership agreements.
This has nothing to do with Pete Rose. He was found guilty of betting on baseball as a manager, and accepted the punishment. Yes, good evidence later on he did bet on games as a player. That should make the lifetime ban stick. As for the HOF. They changed the rules after the fact which I do take issue with. But that is the HOF’s problem, not MLB’s and they should not take away Rose’s ban just so he can be in the HOF.
tigerdoc- thank you for the refreshingly intelligent and even keeled comment
The investigation into Bowyer started in 2021 and he was arrested in October and his records siezed. That is when they found he had recieved large wire transfers from Ohtani’s account.
I would encourage you to look into what is necessary to make any wire transfer of $10k or greater. That will give you great insight into why many on here including myself believe it would be impossible for Ohtani to not be involved in making those transfers.
So you think there’s gonna be an impartial investigation??? Play naive all u want but u can’t be that dumb. I know this stinks to high heaven but I got u telling me it still can be roses that’s assaulting my nostrils. Smell the money and follow it to the reasoning behind why Pete Rose is left out to die (and out of hall) while Japan’s “perfect person” is gonna get away with it. If Ohtani was at end of his career, he would be properly investigated is what I’m saying but hey, act clueless to how things are run lol
Its a federal investigation. It doesn’t matter what baseball does. Obviously you are dumb enough to think that FBI and IRS will not being doing their best to find out what happened.
Now gtfoh. Stupid people that are also azzes are not worth even seeing your bs.
Wellpact, I get that blaming everything on a conspiracy is in vogue thanks to a certain moron, but you can’t be so gullible that you believe the FBI is going to let Ohtani slide if he’s guilty.
Should have signed with the Blue Jays. You can get away with anything in Canada.
I think there are some truck drivers that would beg to differ
All I can say (probably repeating 100s of others here), is he certainly seemed sincerely shocked and sad about it. If it comes out that he’s full of it and is the real culprit here and bet on baseball, then… it’ll then be a shock to me. And he’ll maybe get an Oscar. (and it’s possible he IS full of it, but seems pretty sincerely upset). The translator pal has a long pattern of, uh, un-truthiness, like having lied about going to UC Riverside and lied about the Boston Red Sox. It *seems* pretty clear here. And it’s all still pretty sad, I can’t imagine that level of betrayal but addiction is a sickness, too.
I want to know more about the Executive Poker Game in SD that Fletcher took the Interpreter and met the gambler. It’s ust like a scene in the Sopranos. If the interpreter was only making 80K a year as they say, wasn’t everyone else too high a roller for him to play with? Everyone else sounded like millioinares. Unless he got a bankroll or they gave him unlimited credit they knew he couldn’t pay back. And if he dropped Ohtani’s name as collateral then he would’ve probably done it to other bookies or casinos.
I wonder if this will have an impact on his 2024 season performance.
If he is lying and has a conscience, it may weigh on him.
I feel for him.
Tis a rich minefield of Mutes, ‘tis.
First he sent $ to help his friend
Then he has no idea about his friend or any $
Then his friend stole the $
BUT he definitely did NOT bet himself
Be a man, manfred! Let the truth come out and punish him like he deserves
A degenerate gambler, terrible friend, and now a liar!
LIFETIME ban
MLB should have banned players decades ago with the PED nonsense but instead let it play out because of profits and expansion of interest in baseball. They could have had a cleaner league decades ago but let it slide into the degenerative form it is today.
Couldnt agree more!
The game went from our national pastime to filled with drug users, cheaters, and degenerate gamblers. That & rule changes have absolutely ruined a beautiful sport
Pretty sure it was the national pastime when that alcoholic degenerate Babe Ruth was playing. Not to mention all the pill poppin’ players before the steroid era.
Athletes take drugs, cheat, and gamble, just like non-athletes, and they’ve been doing it since the beginning.
But I do agree with you that a few of the rules changes have soiled the sport.
As george steinbrenner’s character said on seinfeld once, “babe ruth was nothing but a fat man with little girl legs”
but the babe never lied about anything. he never corked his bat. he never bet on baseball. he never took PEDs. and nobody ever banged on a trash can so he could hit a few extra HRs
PED users like bonds and clemens tainted the integrity of the sport forever. manfred completely botched handling of the astros cheating scandal. then he changed all the rules. and now he’s gonna turn a blind eye to a degenerate gambler like ohtani and force the interpreter to take the fall. we are living in the friggin twilight zone
No wonder he was a hero to boys and girls across the country, plus legions of prostitutes.
Being a “degenerete gambler” is not against MLB’s rules, so your faux moral outrage is immediately null and void. And I don’t think being a bad friend or liar warrants a lifetime ban from baseball…
@stormie
Hi I’m earth, have we met?
Gambling is illegal in CA. And a federal crime. If you’re guilty thats jail time baby
If he bet on baseball thats nothing less than a permanent ban. He’s alredy dug himself a hole by offering up half a dozen different testimonies of what happened. If you wanna believe $5 million was only spent on “international soccer” then go on living in lala land. Either way he deserves punishment. Dude has zero credibility now. What a disgrace for a sport already in complete decline
I agree with you all of the PED players should have been banned.
But the difference in that scandal was it was encouraged by MLB and owners for players to use PEDs to win fans and make money.
That was the number one reason why they could not ban any one of those single PED players.
All those players would have united and completely destroyed MLB and the owners.
So, it just turned out to be a slap on the wrist for the players.
ju
amazing that you know this before MLB, before the police, and before the government
Muted (arrogance, ignorance, and idiocy)
Ill alert the media.
Boycott MLB and let’s hold Manfred accountable!
manfred is absolutely accountable
and many fans have stopped following/watching
BUT they’ve gained new fans in honduras and korea and kazakhstan so its all good in the eyes of mlb lol
But remember MLB doesn’t want to stereotype all Asians fortheir love of gambling…
Ohtani is innocent until proven guilty, of course, but I suspect Ippei is falling on his sword.
Somewhere there is a bookie facing federal charges on all this. If Shohei was involved the dude has every reason to talk and cut a deal. Stay Tuned.
He has millions of reasons not to.
I’m not getting the part about the 1st translator lying to the dodgers. If anything, ohtani would be claiming the translator lied to
him. But I spend $50 and my credit card immediately be calling me declining the transaction.
Usotsuki!
So, i have read what everyone else has read. I would say a couple of things as an attorney.
Ohtani is not credible, nor is Mizuhara.
Ohtani is not particularly intelligent. Making this statement today when the IRS, MLB and possibly the FBI are investigating is DUMB, DUMB, DUMB and could haunt him later. Say nothing, let your lawyers do that job.
Ohtani hits and throws a baseball, he is not a Rhodes Scholar.
Ohtani is at a minimum flustered and that I believe is genuine. But I dont believe anything he says and again he is not credible.
Just my final opinion, that is all it is. I have no inside information and I am reading whatever everyone is saying. Here it is:
It seems odd to me that Mizuhara was making these huge bets and Ohtani knew nothing. Ohtani claims that Mizuhara is his buddy, but knew nothing of his betting? OK sure, I dont believe that at all. Plus he is claiming that Mizuhara took the money from his accounts without his knowledge? My guess, and that is all this is, is that Ohtani made bets, Mizuhara was the go between and Ohtani paid off those bad debts. Also this happened while he was with the Angels. Well why the deferred payments on this new contract? To avoid the penalties? Did the Dodgers also know about this prior to signing him? Did Dave Roberts and the players know? Why was this dropped when they were all in Korea?
So much stuff that is not answered.
Tom Brady got a Federal case and a full investigation with a special investigator for football pressure, but Ohtani gets nothing? Just a misunderstanding? LOL NO WAY.
Ohtani is in trouble. MLB has a tough call, but I am going to BET, lol sorry I had to, that the bookie tells the investigators everything…yep. I would put 4.5 million on that…
Which two of those things did you say as an attorney? That was a lot of stuff.
bhb
and most of it pretty dumb
Whoever was actually betting, sports betting is illegal in California.
The part about the news breaking while they were all in Korea is interesting. I never thought about that before. To read alot of the stories you’d think this all just happened in 48 hours before the news, but the reality is the money was coming out of Ohtani’s account regularly starting about a year ago and the federal case against the bookie has been going of for months.
Every fan should give it to him at the away games! I can see the signs now unless they are banned from the stadiums. Either he is the dummest human on earth or he is lying. Worst best friend, worst friends around him, not aware his friend bets, not aware 4.5mm is disappearing from his account, story changed several time……..
Excuse me, did you say dummest?
Ha ha. Reading the comments section is like watching a mining town saloon scene in an American Western. The Chinaman done wrong. Do we wake the Judge up or get ourselves a rope ?
He’s Japanese.
Same thing. Ahahaha!
There’s a type of commenter here who thinks that jumping to conclusions before they know all the facts makes them look savvy and smart instead of foolish, which is what it actually does. And this story is like bait for all of them.
looks like 95% of these bozos fit your bill
The other 5% are Dodgers fans hoping it ain’t so.
the only questions remaining are does he go 40/40 or 50/50.
40 months in prison/40 months of probation or 50 months in prison/50 months of probation?
another bozo
d-9
100%
And there’s a type of commenter who can’t think in a reasonably logical manner so he needs “official people” to tell him lies, gotcha sheeple Dan 😉
Isn’t it odd in general that his interpreter would have access to his accounts? Let alone be able to steal 4.5 million over 9 transactions without anyone from Ohtani’s team noticing?
And that his interpreter would ever be allowed to run up $4.5m in gambling debts in the first place.
I think Ohtani is a dumb jock and was helping his buddy out. Then his lawyers are like “Uhhh, you know you committed a crime by doing that for him”. Now the damage control commences. My guess? MLB finds he did nothing wrong and he keeps playing, but he’ll be hounded by the opposing teams’ fans for a long time. The Feds will get Ohtani’s buddy to squeal on the bookie. Friend gets probation and fines or maybe even immunity. Feds will see that Ohtani is just a dumb mark and nothing happens to him in that regard.
Getreal has just blown this case wide open, WIDE OPEN! Ahahaha!
Gambling ruins lives.
open.spotify.com/track/3NFWSKFOOwe9f1VbggvJ8D?si=6…
It’s a simple case of liar liar pants on fire
There is more to this. No way it’s as clear-cut as it’s being made out to be.
First off I do not understand how anyone living in this country for the majority of the last 7 years still needs an interpreter. Second off the protocol for anything with a MLB player that is investigated by the league is usually a suspension without pay. Something does NOT smell right here.
How’s your Japanese, Freddie?
Has he lived in Japan for 7 years?
I choose to defer comment.
I think fans of baseball throughout the world should start a ‘go fund me’ for his translator to become a whistleblower. MLB’s billions versus fans’ billions in court on an equal footing.
I’d happily give a couple of dollars.
Whoever brought up the “marriage was a sham and Shohei and Ippei are lovers so Ippei is taking the fall and his family will be taken care of” is hilarious and soon to be a TV movie on lifetime.
Does anyone here actually think the MLB will do something to the dodgers and Ohtani? I sure as hell dont lol
Sports betting is illegal in California. If it’s found that ohtani bet on games in California, Ohtani, his children and his children’s children will be suspended from
Pitching. For one month.
He’ll be banned from Feb 1st–March 1st, 2028.
Gsbb
What should they do to the Dodgers? And why should they do it?
Anyone who believes that Ohtani didn’t know about this is living under a rock.
All the joe B lovers in here are in a frenzy because they never had the makings of a varsity athlete
Joe Blanton?
Joe Biagini?
Country Joe Blanton
LoRH
“All the joe B lovers in here are in a frenzy because they never had the makings of a varsity athlete”
Muted (idiot)
Ohtani is the victim here. Especially, with rush to judgement that has followed. He most likely had nothing to do w/this and the investigations will prove it. Bodes well, he’s gonna be pissed n take it out on mlb pitching this yr. Got to be 1 of favorites for MVP. Bump in the road.
Ohtani seems to underplay his own responsibility here. A rigorous investigation will answer the many questions that remain.
Breaking News
Just moments ago, Ohtani learned for the first time that the overwhelming majority of his $700 million contract is deferred.
Apparently Ippie didn’t tell him. And apparently not a single sole among his representatives, spokespersons, agents, attorneys, financial institutions, or even the Dodgers… have anyone besides Ippie who can translate English / Japanese.
Looks like Ippie is the one who’s been ripped off. Apparently he was the most important person in the Ohtani brand. Everything apparently went through him. He should have been getting at least 10% all these years.
Mizuhara went to school in Japan to become a dealer, so he was into gambling from early on.
I think the worst thing that can be said about Ohtani here is that he might have paid his interpreter to fall on his sword so that Ohtani can continue making his 3/4 of $1 billion.
I think that’s a worst case scenario, but if it’s true, we will never know, so play ball and go Orioles
In 2017 an Angels employee dealt drugs which killed Tyler Skaggs. Arte Moreno was probably not disciplined by MLB, or he nor his organization made any changes to their procedures.. In December 2017 the Angels signed Ohtani , the golden child so to speak, and at or about that time the Angels hired a translator. The Angels did what specific due diligence into the translator’s hire? Exactly what is the Angels responsibility to their players?
Did the best Asian player in history deserve better from the Angels?
Ohtani seemed sincere. As a Giants fan I want him and the Dodger$ to have rotten years, but as a baseball fan, I want Ohtani to have a great long career.
Ohtani, the Dodgers organization, and baseball fans the world over better hope Ohtani didn’t leave an electronic paper trail if he did authorize bets with the bookie through his interpreter.
On a side note, the fact anyone can be charged with a crime for gambling in today’s ‘Merica is simply ridiculous.
Let me see if I can think like the people who believes he is innocent.
Ohtani didn’t notice the two $500,000 wire transfers made from his account because that was pocket change from what he makes.
And my best guy friend has built up a $4.5 million dollar gambling debt and I never knew he even gambled until he told me just the past week after we had a spring training meeting where he spoke English at the meeting instead of Japanese that I pay him to translate for me.
WOW! I can see now how innocent he is.
NOT!!!
ayeah
Let me see if I can think like the people who think he is guilty
“I don’t know what happened. GUILTY!”
I can’t believe his agent/lawyer didn’t tell Ohtani to STFU. He can only make things worse by chirping.
He’ll clam up and play ball now
Anyone with the Dodgers or Ohtani going to explain how the interpreter had access to, and was able to make wire transfers under Ohtani’s private banking account for millions without the banking institution making any notifications to Ohtani through calls, email, texts, etc? Not even a receipt? Is Ohtani really this oblivious to everything around him? Scary.
w2
Why would the Dodgers explain that?
Also a reminder that just because the public doesn’t know something doesn’t mean that the people who actually need to know it don’t know it.
The Dodgers are obviously taking the lead on this. They claim to be doing an internal investigation also. Perhaps the Dodgers have an inkling as to how millions of dollars were wired from a person’s private banking account to a bookie (that is what the FBI knows) without any notifications, receipts, or questions being asked by the banking institution, or any information received at any of the contact information sources that were placed on the account by Ohtani.
Many of us get a text or email if we buy a candy bar with a bank card. Some people have their alerts set at $250, $2,000, etc. Some may not even have a special alert where you are notified for a transaction. What I do know is that every bank in the world, at the very least, sends out notifications and receipts for massive transfers, spending, or wires.
This means the interpreter had his private account information including all passwords, etc. The interpreter also was able to prevent Ohtani from being contacted in any form by the bank. It is just very impressive. Not saying he didn’t do exactly that. Just saying Ohtani is the single most oblivious person ever if this interpreter was able to hide his multimillion dollar gambling addiction and had so much more knowledge, and control of Ohtani’s life and finances, then Ohtani had.
w2
Uhhh….cool story
Again, why would the Dodgers explain that?
If they are providing the new interpreter, their employee will be explaining to them the answers to their internal investigation. I thought the Dodgers and I made that clear. When they give their results, that would be a topic they need to address because it encompasses the entire paper trail for when, how much, to where, and what notifications were given and when.
You are right that the Dodgers are not obligated to tell the public anything, but it will be fairly hard for anyone to explain this away without those answers as to how it was pulled off, and Ohtani kept completely in the dark despite every rational person being aware the bank would have notified him of the transactions.
w2
When was this alledged to have happened?
Why would the Dodgers need to explain that?
Uhhh…cool response from Team Ohtani PR troll.
Ohtani did a good job memorizing the speech prepared by his PR, dodgers PR, & mlb PR
Memorizing it? You can see he keep reading what he was told to say. And what did this interpreter keep writing? I mean if Ohtani’s script was already written out for what Ohtani was going to say, wasn’t the interpreter already privy to what was in the scripted legal story for Ohtani?
So, that either leaves this interpreter doodling pictures during the press conference OR he was jotting down more bets Ohtani was making in Japanese to his new bet runner.
I mean on what basis? He read a prepared statement. So what?
Defense will be he didn’t understand American law
No excuse. Defense will be he too old and doesn’t remember and it ends.
“360 Comments
229 comments are hidden because you muted the comment authors”
Strong
Not nearly strong enough
Ohtani’s explanation sounds kosher to me. Case closed!
Of course it would to you. And thank you true blue blood Dodger fan for your earth shattering belief in all the lies this story has revealed so far.
Baseball is a boring persons drama. Remember when games were super exciting? Now it’s ” Can I get to the keyboard the fastest!?” ” Ohtani did what!?!? “. Support Baseball or don’t. It’s not that deep.
It shouldn’t take Ohtani 5 minutes to let the world know how many transfers were made, and the amount, and the dates.
If he wants me to believe him, let’s see the money trail.
Exactly. We all assume there will be an investigation and charges against the interpreter. The financial information has always been there in real time basically. That will quite a great deal of speculation.
When was each wire, in what amounts, from where to where, and what notifications were sent out each time, and to what contact source on his account? How was he kept entirely in the dark of the banking notifications that were sent to his contact on file? Every one of those answers is available right now. They were there when this came to light. I am not saying we have a right to see any of his information, we do not. You are right that it can be quickly turned over to investigators.
JB
Why would Ohtani [care] whether you believe him or not?
He’s almost certainly not making his banking records public. He’ll let whomever needs to see them see them
You and I will never know what happened and will be best served by believing whatever the investigations decide.
We will find out soon enough. His financial institution will be required to release to the FBI, IRS, and local law enforcement all the information they have. They will find out when, how much, what electronic devices were used to start the process, who physically signed the documentation, and a much more.
At this point I am certain that either Ohtani is lying or he is remarkably stupid. Possibly both.
It will only come out of it becomes public record by being evidence in a court proceeding.
If the interpreter is never charged, only audited and fined by the IRS. You can be assured ohtani is lying, MLB will do nothing and we can just move on.
If this was cut and dry theft like ohtani claims, why is the interpreter not under arrest?
Ohtani: he’s my friend and I’m going to decline to press charges while he goess to rehab.
Translater: ippei is the scapegoat, MLB is complicit, nothing to see here.
Impressive performance by Keyser Shohze. I bet he left with a limp.
“The most impressive trick the Dodger ever pulled was convincing the world the transfer never existed.”
Tokyo Rose trying to convince us that the bookie would believe a 4.5 M payment from his account was without his knowledge? Smells very Rose-y
I’m going to need an explanation of how $4.5 million went from Ohtani’s account to pay gambling debts without his knowledge. This guy was his interpreter; not his accountant.
I get why people want to believe in heroes. I dont get why we have to disregard facts.
Your translator’s not getting his hands on $4.5M. Period. Even your wife’s not spending that kind of money without saying what it’s for.
I dunno this reeks of being caught red handed using an intermediary and using any flimsy excuse with an iota of plausibility to distance yourself, claim ignorance and avoid genuine scrutiny, hoping enough people are loyal to you and you’ve paid them off enough to keep their mouths shut.
Well, at best, Ohtani is far too lenient regarding access to his bank accounts.
My guess is MLB will go out of its way to find he did not bet on baseball, and that will be that.
Whether he’s telling the truth or not, this should be as clear a sign to Ohtani as possible to not permit whatever this was to happen again. I’m sure he understands what the words “lifetime ban” mean.
Anyone that has ever worked in accounting with high value clients like Ohtani or in banking with high value clients knows that Mizahura could not have made wire transfers that large without it being flagged. Ohtani and his accounting staff not only had to be aware of the transfers, they had to be involved.
Wiring a half million is not something you do from your phone or even your computer. Its not just a couple of clicks. Its a process that involves actual paperwork and approvals at several levels.
This is not going to end well for Ohtani. It probably won’t end well for Mizuhara either. What a mess.
Americans so badly want proof he gambled. Just can’t handle a non american is doing something. None of them can do.. All sports have gambling sites connection. Hypocrites. Kind like a conservative politicians against pot when in government now working for companies selling stuff.
What a stupid post.
Most people don’t want proof of anything specific. They simply want to know how this happened since the story being told is so implausible.
Walk up video, Flintstone saying, bet bet bet ? Baseball of old would have a real problem, but in today’s double standard America, no problamo.
The dodgers should be reprimanded in a some way for this type of action
I’m not angry that Ohtani was cleared of any wrongdoing. The MLB didn’t even look. If this were any other player they would have spent tons of money on a multi week/month long investigation on them. The MLB cleared him 10 minutes after the story dropped. Everything about this story just doesn’t pass the smell test.
This is bad. Very Very Bad. The misinformation and confusion isn’t adding up either.
Mlb should suspend him from games immediately until a proper investigation is done.
facebook.com/reel/909801170926449?mibextid=rS40aB7…
You can’t be doing this and any day he’s playing an active in season game going is another day Pete Rose Deserves to be in the HOF.
To say othani didn’t know was bogus. He’s got a financial advisor in his pocket that’s absolutely tracking every penny in and out of his contract.
I don’t think this will end well, but mlb shouldn’t be playing double standard here and until everything is uncovered because it’s been a fumbled mess so far you gotta give this guy the book because it was his money, he signed off on it and it was in his interest.
Pete Rose deserves nothing.
But othani does?
In this country, you are innocent until proven guilty.
Being suspected of a crime does not equate to being guilty of a crime. Second, gambling is just a misdemeanor offense, being a bookie is a federal offense so you’re not going to suspend a guy for being charged with a non-violent misdemeanor.
Pete Rose bet on baseball. Ohtani, allegedly, bet on soccer. If an investigation proves otherwise, then Ohtani should be suspended/banned.
Lastly, quit with the whole “Pete Rose belongs in the Hall” nonsense. The guy is a pedophile and doesn’t belong anywhere near the hall of fame or children.
Is Trevor Bauer under that same notion? Betting on baseballs a no no especially when it’s attached to you and your own games. Giving othani a pass for the betterment of the game internationally doesn’t justify the black balling rose has endured and Bauers going through. It’s more hypocritical if anything that we’re even looking at apples to oranges on this. Especially with the handling. Othani fumbled the bag now he’s caught and a proper investigation needs to happen before he steps back on a baseball diamond again.
IF Ohtani bet on baseball he will get blacklisted but as of right now he isn’t suspected of betting on baseball.
Everyone who know me knows I believe Bauer should be back in baseball. Baseball has the privilege of being able to suspend players with zero proof in instances of domestic violence/assault but once Bauer was cleared of all charges and civil liability he should have reinstated. Of course the issue now is no baseball team will sign him because of Manfreds ridiculous suspension.
All that is moot anyway, Rose, Bauer, Urias and Ohtani are all completely different situations.
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pedophilia
Rose is not a pedophile.
Admitted to relationship with minors.
Years ago and the limitations over he’s not not in the hall because of that
Yes. He is.
Do you realize how stupid it is that you took time to google the definition of pedophile but didn’t bother to fact check Roses history regarding his pedophilia?
She was 16….pedophilia is attraction to prepubescent women.
Never thought I see someone on this site defending pedophilia but here we see
You have severe reading comprehension issues.
Don’t be mad at me. You’re the one defending a person who had a relationship with a 16 year old.
It was actually said to be between 12-14, Rose said he “thought she was 16” and then said “who cares about something that happened 50 years ago”
Someone on this site is going to star in “to catch a predator”… i bet his name rhymes with “art” banana fanana bo- ____
If I was a bookie to Eppie I would not extend millions of dollars unless I knew positively that it would be covered. If I was the bookie to Ohtani that courtesy would be extended. If I was an illegal bookie I would not wanna be a assualting/murdering book maker. when the investigation is over, let the opinions fly
How did Talkin’ Baseball get this on camera when rumors are that cameras were banned for this event? Did they sneak a camera in?
If this just goes away, its a joke. There is no way in hell that Ohtani isn’t involved and yet Charlie Hustle is still banned? MLB, do right and show us that no player is bigger than the game!
those two things have nothing to do with each other.
Sure they do. Nothing is equal and there is always something going on behind the scenes. Get your head on straight.
Japanese LOVE TO GAMBLE, I wonder how “innocent ” Ohtani is ??
Could say the same thing about the US, whose professional leagues are sponsored by gambling entities now, but it’s proof-positive Ohtani is guilty because he is Japanese.
Log off and never post again.
Hey hallofnobody, you must dumb and naive !
more assumptions based on flawed evidence, so at least you’re consistent….Also, calling someone dumb and then hitting “post comment” when you’ve forgotten a word must hurt your ego.
Hey hallofnobody, let me rephrase, “You must BE dumb,Stupid and Naive to think Ohtani DID NOT KNOW $4.5 million U.S. was coming out of his account !!
Now waddle away ….
Bruh. Calling me dumb and posting that hodgepodge consisting of missing quotes and random capitalizations is the definition of ironic. Be better.
All I know is that the day before he was fired, media reported that he was smiling and chatting with Ohtani in the dugout. Sounds like Ohtani only got mad after the lawyers changed the story, and now the translator is thrown under the bus.
Pete Rose was the Don Henley of baseball players off the field.
Pete Rose was the Wander Franco of baseball players
Shoheiless Joe
Can we atleast get a mock up of Ohtani in his Washington Wizards jersey?
everyone knows ohtani is BSing and is dirty now.
he is trying to cover his own behind.he knew what the guy was doing….but this mlbs golden boy
Capitalism wins. He’s guilty of at minimum money laundering. Probably a notch worse then Calvin Ridley cause common sense says he also threw games. But MLB can’t lose the revenue by suspending Ohtani for multiple seasons. My guess is he’s above the law and doesn’t even get fined.
Is there gas in the car? Yes there’s gas in the car.
Capitalism is amazing. Japan is the other country that can pull off the infrastructure of a major baseball league.
In other news perhaps even more shocking it appears that Jordan Hicks may actually be a starting pitcher after all.
I don’t know how billionaires typically handle their finances, but my guess is it’s nothing like how I and most of us on this site handle ours. I have 3 different accounts and I handle all transactions involving those accounts. I don’t have enough assets to hire anyone else to handle it for me!
Would Ohtani have multiple individuals whom he has given access/privilege to his accounts? My guess is Ohtani doesn’t sit down each morning and try to figure out which bills are due. Wouldn’t he have people who handle that, who would also have access to those accounts?
No, Ohtani woudnt have his “translator” pay his bills. He also wouldnt have $4.5M in his chequing account gaining no interest and he woud notice if $4.5M went missing from that account.
I’m curious to know if anyone else in his camp was alerted by the Feds other than the interpreter. I can’t imagine he’s the contact in case of fraud alerts. I’m not buying that
Ohtani is not a billionaire now and had earned just $9 million in MLB and less then $30 million total in his career when the gambling took place from 2021 to early 2023.
This case is about wire transfers that were made and those are not something that can be made on an individuals account without the knowledge of and involvement of the account holder. The bank has too much liability under the Banking Secrecy Act to allow large wire transfers without a large amount of federal paperwork being filled out and the transfer being verified with the account holder. Frankly, so does the account holder.
A $500k wire transfer is not paying bills.
Come on!!!! If you are going to lie. Make sure you all parties get the story straight!!!! Come on Shohei, do better!!!!!
The situation seems fishy to me. Hard to think Ohtani didn’t know what was going on here.
In the end, people are going to be upset. Doesn’t matter if he is cleared of the incident or not.. If he is cleared, Joe Jackson comes to mind.
This stinks for baseball and as a fan.
Yep sure does smell fishy!!! Just hand the guy millions and not wonder where or what he was doing with it.
“The video of the full thing..” – riveting, third grade level reporting
That immediately jumped out to me as well. Keep reminding us how we should pay for such high quality content and talented writers.
I mean, most of the commenters seem like they are in kindergarten, so…
Exhibit A…filihok
That statement changed a whole lot of nothing.
Shohei Rose…..
Why would your interpreter have access to a bank account with $4.5M in assets? Weird.
Moving forward. What a mind bend for the Dodger’s FO. Obviously, they went all in on a strategy to get to the WS and often … and this happens. Physical production probability based on past performance analytics is great stuff but then there’s the emotional side of the player’s make up?
How will Ohtani, his teammates and on field coaches cope/adapt to this reality during the season … especially when playing on the road.
It’s true what they say about America – “they build you up only to tear you down”. It’s unclear if Ohtani even did anything and people want him thrown in jail? Lol, to the people that say that his story is unlikely – just remember, many athletes get taken advantage of by business partners, managers, friends, or even family. I always go back to that time Kareem got millions stolen from him by his “manager” and he had to sue him to get it back. Ohtani’s on record for saying he didn’t even check his bank account when he was living in Japan.
Yeah but your logic would mean his financial advisors would also be in on it. You think he doesn’t have a team of people running his accounts with the money he makes. It doesn’t just go into a checking account like a normal person. Flags would have went up along the way. He’s guilty of at least knowing what was going on. And his interpreter had access? This guy wasn’t his financial advisor, agent etc that would have access to the money. He was an employee of the dodgers not ohtani. Complete BS. And they also have already changed their stories.
See, this is what I mean when I say people just assume stuff or even make things up. This guy was Ohtani’s interpreter on the Angels and the Dodgers probably hired him as a favor to Ohtani, which hints to some prior relationship. It also came out that the interpreter lied on his application to get hired as Ohanti’s interpreter so there he’s already been lying for the past 8 years. No one here knows Ohtani personally, but most athletes are gullible. I think you would be surprised how many of them don’t know their financial situation.
Bro you are saying people are assuming stuff then go on to say most athletes have no idea of their financial situation. Kind of an assumption if you ask me. I agree there are prob friends but that wouldn’t give him assess to his bank accounts. Ohtani is lying. Common sense
Do you even bother to do any research? Ippei has been working with Shohei since Shohei was 16.
Just because you wouldn’t do it doesn’t mean he won’t as well. It seems like this guy worn many hats and wasn’t just his interpreter. Again, this guy was bold enough to lie on his resume, which is technically already a crime
Mizuhara has been working with Ohtani since 2017. Ohtani was 22.
The reality now is the Dodgers have a bad brand to sell that they’re into for 3/4 of a billion. While they can probably market him globally, which was a lot of his value. He’s DOA domestically, unless something truly comes to light that clears him in the public mind. Perception matters.
He is also coming into his thirties and coming off his second ACL surgery. What a huge risk that he might be a DH only for the majority of his remaining career.
Bart, he was a global marketing signing. That can’t take damage. He’s not worth that $ by virtue of his onfield contributions. He’s perhaps toast in the US.
Agree on the marketing aspect. But both contracts to the Japanese players were for far too many years and are a billion dollar commitment. High risk high reward I guess.
I wouldn’t think a multi-billion dollar business would take major risks. I’d assume if they handed a player 750M…he’s worth several billion to them. But this was one way to tank him domestically. It has the sniff test of Barry Bonds at the moment. I’d have to imagine there’s some Dodgers officials crapping golden bricks about now.
Marketability really doesn’t correlate to facts always. He’s a gambler to a LOT of people now….right or wrong. Add the distraction to the team.
The ACL is located in the knee, which is the hinge part in the middle of your leg. People are so blood-thirsty, they forget basic anatomy.
A year from now this will have been a minor blip unless evidence comes forward he personally bet on baseball.
LordD99- I’d be more inclined to believe this if the Feds weren’t involved and had the bookie. This just going to string out, and keep popping up. Fans in other cities already have it out for the Dodgers.
DE
I’ll take the over on him being DOA
The VAST majority of fans won’t care
Hard core idiots will talk [stuff]
Meh
All comes down to $$ if they pay to show up to yell at him. Thanks for the purchase I suppose.
MLB will help fabricate whatever is necessary to protect their cash
Or they will find that incriminating evidence to ban Ohtani (like they did with Pete Rose) to put a quick end to the scandal and be able to move forward as quickly as possible.
You can tell who the young posters are on here who did not live through the Pete Rose scandal. Pete Rose was just as much as huge back in his day as Ohtani is to MLB today.
There are plenty other fish (players) in the sea (MLB) to be the next big MLB marketing sensation. aka, who was it before Ohtani arrived? Trout and Harper. To ban Ohtani will just be a bump in the road before the next big money maker for MLB arrives.
The integrity of game for every owner, team, player, fan and employee of the teams is more important for MLB than one marketing star player.
I lived through Pete. Pete was a manager and very easy to move on from. Ohtani is a huge money maker for MLB given the Japanese audience. “For an individual athlete to generate this level of economic impact is unheard of”.
You can tell who the ridiculous posters are who assume everything based on a comment and have no clue what they’re talking about.
MLB has tens of millions of reasons to push this under the rug.
Hold your confidence until the final MLB “and” Feds decisions are made.
There could be charges against Ohtani for false accusations that Ippei “stole” the money from his accounts.
Or that Ohtani truly did wired those payments to the bookie.
Remember, Ohtani claimed he is innocent and accused Ippei of stealing the money from his accounts. But from every story reported, there is no police report filed from Ohtani that Ippei did indeed steal the money.
If Ohtani did file a report and they find no evidence Ippei did steal the money. Then Ohtani is guilty of a felony for filing a false police report and could be facing jail time.
Will MLB just sweep it under the rug if Ohtani has to spend time in jail…waiting for their cash cow to re-emerge from jail? I don’t believe so.
If Ohtani did NOT file the report, that leaves the door open for more incriminating evidence that Ohtani does have some involvement and/or knowledge of Ippei’s gambling, bets, and dealings with the bookie.
Either way this will not be an easy just sweep it under the rug.
Remember, this isn’t only a MLB verdict.
It involves what the Feds uncovered. Whether Ohtani lied about Ippei’s stealing the money from his account or not and whether the bookie does come forward with evidence that Ohtani did make some bets or was involved in throwing a single game he played.
Just like with Pete, it’s going to come down to how much evidence can the bookie present to cover his own butt. There is nothing MLB can hide or sweep under the rug of what the Feds can reveal in the courts.
That was part of Pete’s downfall. What came out from the Feds investigation with the bookie.
Also, Pete made no claims that someone else stole money from his account to make the payments.
Ohtani did, so that puts his case into another realm of questions and doubt, and whether he could be facing additional charges of another felony.
A lot will come down to what the Feds uncover.
I’m not saying Ohtani can’t be innocent. But I wouldn’t be so confident in saying this can easily be swept under the rug for “one” superstar cash cow player. There are too many players that come and go in the sport. Ohtani isn’t the “only” Japanese or Asian player. There are others and are lot more coming down the pipeline. MLB is just starting to bringing them into the sport and they have to set a precedence that they will NOT tolerate any form of illegal betting.
By sweeping this one case under the rug opens the door up for more players no matter where they come from to do the same and then expect the same treatment.
A good conversation. But let’s not be so confident this will be just an easy sweep under the rug case. There is a lot of questions that need to be answered.
Mets – thanks it wasn’t us this year grabbing no good headlines. Again.
No, but your Mets made a quick splash into grabbing the headlines on game 1 of the season.
So did Ohtani bet on the supposed pland to Toronto too. LOL
Now come on. Ohtani is the choir boy who never bets or even talked about it until being questioned this past week.
That was Ippei who made the plane trip bet to Toronto. That was one of his many bet losses of that huge gambling debt.
The other bet losses… Angels would win the World Series in 2018, 2019, 2020…
Without documented proof, to compare anything to Rose and Jackson’s offenses is absurd. These two committed the most heinous crime related to gambling – they were involved in wagering on games in which they played!
If you are a professional athlete, you can (though not advised) gamble but not on games or events within your sport and especially not on games in which your team is involved.
As of now Ohtani has not been found to do have done either.
They say the coverup is usually worse than the crime. In this case, I don’t know.
MLB will absolutely cover this up. Sorry, but what has been made public paints a pretty bad picture. MLB has a lot of money tied up in Ohtani, so spare me and anyone else making the OBVIOUS connection.
I doubt the info will ever come out because MLB is corrupt, from the players union to the commissioners office.
So true!
Something tells me the wire transfers came from the Super Terrific Happy Hour.
Jerry Seinfeld approves your message!
Dial 1-800 S-Ohtani for the last hot tip
Even if Ohtani did place the bets, he did nothing wrong. An unjust law is no law at all.
Though, if that is in fact the case and he’s throwing his interpreter under the bus, then that is obviously very wrong.
Also, tell Pete Rose that.
Learn English
*Engrish
To the trolls here: I hope you realize that you get muted as soon as you open your yap so, in effect, you’re talking to yourselves. Why not go somewhere where you’ll be appreciated? I’m clueless as to where that would be.
Who exactly are you speaking to, when you, in fact, could be muted by the very trolls you speak of? It sounds like you think a little too highly of yourself.
He was under paid by the Angels until last season. Got $2 Million a year for 10 years with the Dodgers & deferred the rest. The interpreter was a POS embezzler. His only hope is he is not implicated in this scandal and the new wife doesn’t turn out to be a Gold digger! He should be listening to Alice Cooper’s “No more Mr. Nice Guy” on repeat!
Guy bet on baseball. MLB is covering it up because…….MONEY. Anyone shocked?
Players used to get banned from baseball just for consorting with known gamblers.
The most believable scenario in my mind is that Ohtani helped his friend without giving any thought as to the legal ramifications. 4.5M is an absurd amount of money for most humans. But for Ohtani, that’d be a large but doable sum.
Why would a translator get such a line of credit? On the hopes that the bookie could gain access to info.
The initial back track…to me…seems like the lawyers grabbing then and basically saying…”Hey, you dummies committed a crime…shut up!”
But the real issue is that something dumb likely occurred that Ohtani probably knew about. And now he has to try to stave off MLB discipline. That wire fraud is a one year suspension under the CBA.
His prepared speech was very telling in the language. He was very careful not to deny some things. They’re nervous what the Feds will pull from the bookie.
I’m giving Ohtani some benefit of the doubt. But nothing would surprise me. And I’m not going to be shocked when we find out this book maker had quite a few athlete/celebrity clients.
Charlie Hustle’s christian name is Peter File Rose
BS! Ohtani was in on it. 2 million Japanese MLB subscriptions will cover it up.