The old saying goes, Less is more. Also, silence is golden. How Mizuhara agreed to talk with ESPN in the first place is beyond belief. Didn't he talk to a lawyer before hand? Mizuhara is an idiot by all accounts.
He is the fall guy. He may be an idiot but he’s good enough friends with him he paid off his gambling debts. Maybe he was making bets for him and that’s why he paid them off.
Ippei LIED that Ohtani knew it was gambling debt when in fact Ohtani thought they were loans Ippei panicked and made up a story so he himself wouldn’t go to jail
I'm speculating that ESPN interview and Mizuhara's recanting of his words were all part of the skit orchestrated by Ohtani camp to paint the picture of " Good guy tried to save the dishonorable traitor" and " Dodgers are trying hard to use Mizuhara as a fall guy" to keep narrative from going into Ohtani himself possibly being a constant gambler.
Ippeis gambling habits are well known since NPB days, well known by Fighters staff. Ohtani has several accounts which one has about 10M allocated for donations and charities, which Ippei has authorized access to. According to information from Japan.
I wasn't sure if it was me, as I was nodding off throughout the interview (in fairness, I'm sleep deprived at the moment). But I was waiting for the payoff (no pun intended), which never came.
One thing that people don't talk about is that Ohtani has not been really good at English, especially when he first arrived at US from Japan. At that time, I assume that Mizuhara virtually did everything that require understanding of difficult level of English to help him, which could include creating and setting up his bank accounts, etc. I just thought that based on Ohtani's relatively poor English knowledge and his trust, he could share his private information with Mizuhara to get help for financial procedures. I personally think it is quite likely that Mizuhara could do all these payments by himself without making Ohtani notice it.
Getting into debt with an illegal bookmaker? Who cares if he bet on baseball or not. A bookmaker having leverage over Ohtani is much worse than placing a bet through Draft Kings on a baseball game.
Aaron Rodgers suffers a serious injury four plays into the 2023 football season. Shohei Ohtani is involved in a gambling scandal. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a rough start to the 2024 baseball season. We see, once again, that spending lots of money on players' contracts does not guarantee success.
Ohtani depended on Ippei and entrusted him with a bank account containing a substantial amount of money. Interestingly, two wire transactions were made in October of last year for Ippei’s debt which coincided with the time when Ohtani donated three baseball gloves to every elementary school in Japan.
Yup. I think Ohtani knew of the $500k amounts going out, but was under the impression that it was for charity and gave authorization. It makes sense because the money came out of an account that he used/uses for donations. Which is why Ohtani was shocked when hearing about Ippei stealing. He knew about the money leaving his account, but thought it was strictly charity.
Gambling is highly addictive. The story should be how dangerous gambling is for people, but everyone getting rich from it so folks will pretend that losing $4.5mm in bets is normal
Then you are solely going by Ippei’s version of the story. If you believe that Ippei has the gambling problem, then you must also just believe that Ohtani was a good friend and paid off the bookie. So in Ohtani’s case, the road to hell is paved with good intentions… because what he did is still a federal crime.
@@Realdrlipschitzyou know the story can get a lot more than that right? 😂😂😂 How do you trust a liar? Until credible evidence shows up, you can’t trust a proven liar 😂😂😂
Imagine living and working alone in a foreign country where you don't speak the language and the culture is different. You would have to delegate all paperwork and correspondence to others. It is well known that when he was in Japan, he left account management to his mother. However, since this was not possible in the U.S., where the language and the rules were different, he probably entrusted Mizuhara with the management of his accounts. It would not be surprising if he handled Ohtani's accounts on a regular basis. Not only was Ohtani suddenly stranded in a foreign land, he was betrayed by his entourage.
@@jacksmith8002could he pick up gambling slang? I understand over under, point spread and what a parlay is. But some of the other terms? A futures bet? A hook? A teaser?
There’s no way baseball’s chosen one since Shohei was a kid, the most popular superstar athlete in the world is going to gamble by placing a bet using a wire transfer/check with his NAME, AMOUNT, PAYEE BOOKIE, DATE AND TIME on it. He didn’t gamble let alone bet on baseball.
@@slundgr Yup, I don't understand why there are so many people with their head in the sand ignoring the obvious scenario. Ohtani was betting through his interpreter, and his interpreter is taking the fall.
Reportedly, after the first game Mizuhara explained the same story he told ESPN in front of people concerned in Dogers organization. Ohtani realized that something was wrong and found that Mizuhara had transferred money from Otani's account without permission. It appears that Mizuhara tried to escape the situation by giving Otani a completely different explanation in Japanese.
After hearing this clubhouse speech by Ippei, he did speak to other Japanese translator right after (according to ESPN) and that’s when his legal team came back with “massive theft”. I’m with Ohtani here, he was betrayed by a close friend whom he depended on even for financial assistance. At the worst, Ohtani paid his debt for $1.0M but he found out it was $4.5M, that’s when he said “WTF” or something sure like it !!!
@@broman74dude95 Apparently investigators have already identified the account used as the same account Ohtani used for charity and gifts, so the theory is Ippei was entrusted with this account with about $10m in it, which makes sense considering Ippei arranged the $6m donation in gloves to Japanese elementary schools. The only mistake Ohtani made was not doing what most ultra-rich athletes do, which is create a foundation with a dedicated staff.
To be more precise, Ohtani heard the words "debt" and "gambling" and asked the interpreter around him why these words came up and confirmed what mizuhara was saying...
what a wild story. going to be super interesting to see how all this is handled, on every level. insane. editing a week later to double down and guarantee this will be one of the biggest stories of the year, and would be the biggest except for the whole election year crap
Very surprised Dodgers intel before signing didn’t find out interpreter had this issue. Most teams did deep into every drawer of one’s life when making that financial commitment
An obvious speculative scenario is that Ohtani paid the two half-million dollar debts, and then the bookie and/or Mizzuhara stole the remainder by forgery. Also, it should be borne in mind that No One has named Mizzuhara as the supposed Thief. The statement merely was that "massive theft" occurred.
@@user-yd4nk4lm6s Why would you think his interpreter would have received credit? The only likely scenario is Ohtani having been given a reprieve because the bookie knew he was good for it. No other option is plausible.
Nah. Only likely scenario is Shohei paid 2 500k "loan" repayments for Ippei not knowing it was for gambling debt. Ippei himself said that his salary was increased because he was struggling to live the lifestyle. I suspect he told Shohei these were loans he took from bad people to keep up with him. Ippei then tells the bookie that Shohei will continue to pay off his debts in the future. He then proceeds to steal from Shohei's accounts and do it himself to the sum of $4.5m. @@PGO_Gaming
With information being so minimal, somewhat contradictory and sketchy at this point, I hope sports commentators and rational fans will let this play out without making baseless, uninformed, reckless or irresponsible comments. I have no reason to believe Shohei Ohtani was involved in gambling himself, and it's pretty clear that the gambler was Ippei who admits to gambling addiction and getting deeply in debt with his betting. If Ohtani actually wired money to cover Ippei's debts, which is still a possibility, I would expect he thought he was simply paying off his friend's debt and not doing anything that was illegal. (Ippei said in his interview that he thought the guy taking his bets was legal, similar to DraftKings.) Whatever the details, it's obvious that Ippei messed up Ohtani's life and that this will make Ohtani's life very difficult no matter how innocent he is of actual crimes or misconduct. We know enough about Ohtani's lifestyle and character to give him the benefit of the doubt at this stage. But I do want to know how Ippei and others in his life have managing his finances and overseeing things that are done for him, so he isn't bothered by the mundane stuff. Maybe Ohtani is too naive and trusting of those acting in his name.
A little early to connect Ohtani and Rose, don’t you think? Nobody hasn’t even whispered a notion that Shohei gambled on baseball. Until receipts are produced, don’t even go there.
Looks like there are three options here (personally, I think the second is most likely). 1. What his lawyers are pushing. His interpreter committed a massive fraud using Ohtani's name. Ohtani was completely oblivious because he trusted the guy and gave him carte blanche to handle his money. Possibly true (he wouldn't be the first athlete to be bad with money) and conveniently makes him completely innocent. 2. The original story. His interpreter made a bunch of illegal bets. Since Ohtani is a swell dude, he wanted to help his friend and agreed to pay off the bookie without realizing that this is a crime, regardless of his intentions. The problem is the millions in credit extended to the interpreter - he would not have done that unless he believed Ohtani would 100% back it up. 3. The worst option. Ohtani made the bets and had his interpreter carry them all out. If this is the case then he's banned for a long, long time.
There’s option 2a. Ohtani transferred to help ippei out, and option 2b. Ippei misled Ohtani to the legality of this transaction and that’s theft by deception, and that leads to option 3 of massive theft.
Option 3 makes the most sense because it cuts out the nonsensical questions. Story changes, "massive theft". None of that makes sense. #3 makes logical sense. That's why it's the truth.
Ippeis gambling habits are well known from NPB days by the Fighters staff. It was one of Shohei’s account allocated for donations and charities which has balance of 10M and Ippei has authorized access to this account.
i try to gamble in CASiNO being into it for 1week almost everyday... But i reaLized that its not Good and fine Loosing the money for our Living and decided not to do it again... i dont think your fact has a sense。
Rose played at the same time as Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, he was never the best player in baseball. Even in his MVP year, Joe Morgan was better and Tom Seaver put up an absurd 11 WAR (2.08 ERA & 0.976 WHIP in 290 IP)
what i’m very much interested in this unexpected matter is why the ESPEN was able to hear from Mizuhara about gambling debts. Mizuhara volunteered to reveal his illegal betting or the ESPN got to know about suspicious wrongdoings. The point is whether ohtani knew about ippei’s deeds or totally ignorant of the matter at all. Japanese media are right now having a field day about what happened between the two. I believe that ohtani has made a petty error in his involvement in this incident, but it’s going to be a nusiance and bothersome to his play due to the due diligence process by federal authorities and the MLB.
No one has continued to screw Rose. Rose signed and agreed to a lifetime ban. Not half a lifetime, or ehhh 30 years. Rose signed it and called it even… more was coming out.. no one signs that agreement if they have an argument.
There were plenty of stories what gambling can do to a person. And families and close friends became their only option they can go to. My uncle got into it once and families got together to bail him out. And no, there were zero chance we would just hand him the money at that point
@@RunForPeace-hk1cu Why would Ohtani's team arrange the interview if it was a lie? You think they agreed to an hour long interview without vetting what he was going to say first?
Come on...we all know that Manfred will let the golden boy skate on this. Funny how the MLB is going to defer to the official investigation, but when it was Bauer who was found innocent by the authorities, Manfred still labelled him as guilty and gave him the longest suspension in baseball history. But hey...when it's the face of your league, you make exceptions right? Now, if he is found to have bet and is allowed to stay in the league, then I want Pete Rose in the hall of fame immediately!!!!
what's sad is the most likely fact I bet is somewhat close to the original story and Ohtani's intention was to help his long term friend out from his gambling problems and likely Mizuhara either didnt know the illegality of his activity or willingly manipulated Ohtani that he was just wiring legally to help his friend out. Given Mizuhara manipulated him there has to be a way to protect Ohtani in that case. Ofcourse if Ohtani was making the illegal bets himself then yeah give him suspensions but it's very unlikely given Mizuhara being a known gambling addict from a while back.
I agree...the original story makes the most sense by far. The story likely only changed because the lawyers made Mizuhara walk back and change the story so that Shohei had no involvement (but they only made the optics look worse). Also, people need to stop saying that no one would extend so large a line to a $500K/year max interpreter. Know any other $500K/year interpreters who are like a brother to a guy who makes $65M/year in endorsements and has a $700M deferred salary contract? Who knows what the real truth is, but, people need to stop pretending that this guy wasn't in a unique situation to get very special treatment.
This is so STUPID (and irresponsible) take by Rich. Comparing Pete Rose to Ohtani’s translator issue. I hope Ohtani remembers all these media already condemning him without any evidence - and when he gets out of it when facts come out - he’ll never speak to them again (eg ESPN, LA Times etc ).
Mizuhara is not who he said he was. Never graduated from UC Riverside. Didn't work for Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees. He came out of no where to ingratiate himself with Ohtani. Crazy that guy got in Ohtani's camp. Then either running up $4.5mil in gambling debts and stealing Ohtani's money to pay or accepting the gift from Ohtani to pay it or knowing Ohtani place bets then trying to cover it for him?? Crazy.
Read somewhere that Ippei helped him open bank accounts. Maybe he opened one under ohtani name with his knowledge and used that for transactions. Still think the original story with the most details make sense
As a Dodger fan this feels like a curse is on the team, Bauer, Urias, now this dark cloud over Ohtani (that may go away) but F’s up the excitement of the 2024 season.
If no evidence whatsoever is unearthed that he bet on games he was involved in, then leave him alone. He can pay the fines or whatever for using an illicit Sportsbook, but no one should give a damn in that scenario. If you think baseball is better off without Shohei you’re delusional, it would be an unnecessary black eye for the league.
This reminded me of one Japanese pitcher (Masumi Kuwata who briefly pitched for the Pirates) who got scammed into a real estate investment by a close relative and ended up like 5 billion yens in red (about 50M dollars.) Ultimately his team (the Tokyo Giants) shouldered the debt and became a national scandal. It happened some 35 years ago and quite recently I saw him saying at that time he casually discussed with his accountants about his investment plans and when they heard a relative was to manage his money they warned "Mr. Kuwata, when it comes to money the closest are the more dangerous." Still he didn't listen and went on and regrets to this day.
Questions I would like to see asked about the Dodgers is, did this gambling issue play into their contract negotiation that got Ohtani to accept $2M a season as a way of protecting themselves should it come to light as it has? Perhaps they wanted it deferred for so long understanding that he may be suspended for a period of time and could still come back under contract?
Many highly paid celebrities have been betrayed and robbed by their friends and family who've been entrusted with handling their money and business dealings. Why does anyone think this is any different? Also take into account that Ohtani is universally considered one of the most down to earth athletes who lives such a verifiably frugal low key lifestyle relative to his fame and fortune that an accusation of illegal gambling doesn't really check out with what is widely known about him.
@@noname-dk7ri The old saying is, never trust an addict. Normal people can't imagine being in that position and throwing it all away, but who knows what goes through the mind of an addict. What's sad is Ippei's wife apparently had no idea, even as the story was unfolding. One day she's the trusted attendant to Shohei's wife, the next morning she's cast out as the wife of a addict, pathological liar, and thief who stole millions from the charity account of one of the nicest guys on the planet. On top of that, this all happened in a foreign country.
I was flagged by Walmart a few years ago for sending a buddy of mine $200-$300 a few times when he was in a bad situation. Imagine being dumb enough to log into your (or your boss's) bank website to transfer half a million at a time (multiple times) to an illegal bookmaker.
The Sho must go on.....HOw else is he going to help his friend unless he pays his buddies debt thru the bookmaker? Shohei doesnt strike anybody as a gambler.. he tried to help his buddy out and then had to back track to protect himself....that's my theory...who knows? Any truth that is uncovered won't be believed by half the people anyhow..
Crazy things happen. Look at Pete rose. And Michael Jordan likely had gambling problems too, and he was arguably the most disciplined basketball player ever.....
The NYY & NYM "Dodged" not one, but two bullets - Ohtani & Yamamoto, unless the greatest, most ethical and fair commissioner MLB has ever had, the wonderful Manfred, steps up to the plate and pardons the Ohtani mess as a "language barrier misinterpretation" like the Astro's garage can Championship - ironically which also involved the Dodgers.
It's debatable whether Rob Manfred could manage his way out of a paper bag, but he'll manage not to suspend the best two skill player in baseball since Babe Ruth. Gambling problem? Call ..... or BET ESPN to place your next bet.
He wired money from his bank account to pay off the gambling debt. So in the past year or so Ohtani hasn't even look at his bank account? and no fraud alert from the bank?? there is a paper trail that can't get erased when there is a digital footprint. and yes I am a Giants fan!
Everyone is looking at this wrongly because its his "interpreter"... if this was 'just' a friend, Ohtani would be fucked, so why does the guys title save Ohtani??????? Who TF gives someone like an interpreter total access to your millions??? I wouldnt even let my own family or children have access to my funds.... this is such BS. Everyone is wearing fuking blinders of because who he is.... LAME.
mizuhara is a fall guy. ohtani was gambling and using mizuhara as a middle man. gambling is illegal in the state of california it doesn't matter what mlb thinks or does.
How a lawyer or financial planner misses 5 million dollars is beyond me. My wife notices if I buy a coffee? Very shady at least. And yeah, gambling is as bad as crack to some people.
From Japan 🇯🇵 we love Ohtani, We know Ohtani is the one really honest athlete other than any American pro athletes. Please tell me, Ohtani donated his moneys for …we really appreciate his efforts, we believe him, American media , shut your mouth!!
Ippei was probably underpaid for what he was doing. Japanese interpreters make $500-$1000/day for a regular assignment. Ippei was a full-time interpreter, media rep, personal assistant, and training partner. Factor in that it's California and the Dodgers, and he should have been making $750k to $1m/yr. Perhaps split like $550k from the Dodgers and $250k from Ohtani.