@stevek said:
I just watched a replay of the Ohtani press conference. He does seem credible.
His former buddy if he owes bookies a lot of money. I'm guessing it's likely he will move back to Japan. But it won't be over for him. Japan is well known for having a criminal underground network, perhaps like most countries do. The bookies here in the US will give a contract to the Japanese organized crime group to collect the money owed for a percentage. Just how far the Japanese collectors will go to make him pay-up, we shall see. But it might not be pretty.
I'm curious to see what the scope of the illegal betting market is at this point, bookies are thing of the past around here with Casinos popping up everywhere and the betting Apps on your phone
I think the scope of the illegal betting market is still fairly high. Certainly what you stated has taken business from illegal bookies. However in some aspects it may have increased it.
Casinos will allow pre-approved credit on their casino games. I'm not sure if they allow credit on sports betting or not? Also I don't think the popular sports betting websites allow credit. Please correct me if I'm wrong about these "credit" opportunities.
All that being said, most know that illegal bookies offer basically unlimited credit, within reason. That is their major allure as far as gambling is concerned. A gambler could be dead broke, but if he is in good standing with a dependable payback history, his illegal bookie will still allow him action. Whereby with the legal websites, if there's no money in your account, then there's no action possible.
When i mentioned that legal bookies may have actually increased business for illegal bookies, here is an example. Say somebody never knew an illegal bookie in his life, and when he started gambling, only played thru legal websites. But for whatever reason, he is now dead broke, perhaps out of work, can't borrow any money, and is in gambling heat, dying for some sports betting action. An illegal bookie is the only place he can go, and he will go.
If he wins in the first week he bet with the illegal bookie, that may actually be the worst thing that ever happened to him. The bookie pays him, and the bettor is overjoyed. He may not even go back to the legal websites, figuring he may as well bet with the illegal bookie who was nice enough to extend him credit.
As every gambler knows, sooner or later that cold streak hits, and one week the bettor could find himself deeply in debt to the illegal bookie, and simply can't pay. That's when the bigger problem starts. But hopefully he's back at work, at least makes regular partial payments to the illegal bookie to pay down the debt, and everything is basically okay.
Depending on the situation and payment history, the illegal bookie will probably still extend credit to a player such as this. Whereby if you screw around with a legal website in some manner, they will ban you quickly, and it's usually permanent. So in a weird sort of way, legalized gambling in this one example, increased the business for illegal gambling.
You can 100% use a credit card to fund your betting app
I use my Debit card and the transaction is instant whether I'm depositing or withdrawing
I've never used a CC but the option is there
A credit card yes, but it is not the gambling website that is actually extending you the credit. It is your bank or the credit card company.
I used to have a credit line at some AC casinos. Pure credit with no collateral or anything. Although I'm sure they did a credit check before doing it. I eventually canceled all of it. Paid off all the markers in full on time.
This was all before sports betting was allowed there. So I don't know if now the casinos would allow a player to use their casino credit line for sports bets or not? There might be different state regulations about that versus regular casino games.
I misunderstood,
I'm not sure about Casino Credit, I've never used it so I dont know about that and Sports Betting
@perkdog said:
Well if the Feds dig deeeeeeeep into this they will cover every email, text and witness there is concerning this.
The Feds are interested in who was running the operation not what individual betters were betting. The IRS is investigating the interpreter for tax purposes but the other agencies couldnt care less about what he bet and are interested in moving up the chain like catching a drug dealer on the street corner
Well last I checked the majority of the United states has legalized sports betting to include legal betting apps like Draft Kings, if there is tax fraud then the feds will get into it and be all over Ohtani if he was behind any of it
Most have, the problem is California hasnt which is where the bets took place. Othani should be fine even on that front, maybe pay a fine or something like that. Theres been bigger cases like Wesley Snipes Nicholas Cage etc. Usually nothing really happens if you just pay it which he can afford to do. I seriously doubt MLB will do anything unless absolutely forced too. Theyre going to want the highest burden of proof
But if there are links to him betting on MLB all hell will break loose regardless, and I know the feds don't care what he bet on but again if there were unpaid taxes from MLB winnings or something then MLB will be forced to do something, as much as they love him they can't give him a pass on that
This of course is a lot of "Ifs" but who knows?
I seriously doubt he has anything tax wise that would get him in any more trouble than potentially having to write a check. He has to pay taxes to at least 2 and often times 3 countries if he plays a game in Canada and all the states he played in not even counting endorsement countries or this year where they played in South Korea as well.
He has lawyers, agents etc. CAA is a massive agency that either has tax people in house or relationships with some that their clients use. Its a pretty specialized thing and a lot of the players use the same ones/agencies.
This is also why I dont believe the money was stolen, but I dont think him paying a debt matters either. The initial statement was that he paid off the debt than the lawyers got involved and the money was stolen to protect him. I think the initial statement was most likely to be correct and he may have even been involved some, but I really dont care. He pitched through a torn UCL and has put up MVP numbers every year, hes not throwing games or anything like that.
I dont think anything will happen to him other than maybe a slap on the wrist and of course a behind the scenes talking too
@craig44 said:
I hope Ohtani was telling the truth yesterday. He is probably my favorite current player. I have no cards of his, but he is a unicorn. I doubt I will ever see another like him again in my lifetime.
we shall see. I don't believe the feds don't care about getting Ohtani. I fully believe there is a federal prosecutor out there who would love to have that trophy on his/her wall.
Yea, his words seem credible but it's a tough read because there was an interpreter there. So it's impossible to get the voice inflection, etc, on certain words to try to ascertain whether or not he may be lying. At this point though, after hearing the words, I don't think Ohtani is lying.
i agree with ya about the feds. Their primary goal with this is to take down that large illegal gambling operation. And very likely they will.
Yes we heard the words. But were they Ohtani's or scripted for him?
Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
@craig44 said:
I hope Ohtani was telling the truth yesterday. He is probably my favorite current player. I have no cards of his, but he is a unicorn. I doubt I will ever see another like him again in my lifetime.
we shall see. I don't believe the feds don't care about getting Ohtani. I fully believe there is a federal prosecutor out there who would love to have that trophy on his/her wall.
Yea, his words seem credible but it's a tough read because there was an interpreter there. So it's impossible to get the voice inflection, etc, on certain words to try to ascertain whether or not he may be lying. At this point though, after hearing the words, I don't think Ohtani is lying.
i agree with ya about the feds. Their primary goal with this is to take down that large illegal gambling operation. And very likely they will.
Yes we heard the words. But were they Ohtani's or scripted for him?
Without question a statement that lawyers and a pr team worked on over the weekend
@perkdog said:
Well if the Feds dig deeeeeeeep into this they will cover every email, text and witness there is concerning this.
The Feds are interested in who was running the operation not what individual betters were betting. The IRS is investigating the interpreter for tax purposes but the other agencies couldnt care less about what he bet and are interested in moving up the chain like catching a drug dealer on the street corner
While i certainly agree if is was some common drug dealer or gambler that is nto the case here. The PR and name recognition factor is threw the roof.
An investigation into someone like Ohtani could be a career maker and huge stepping stone for some assistant director or federal prosecutor.
Unless otherwise specified my posts represent only my opinion, not fact.
The latest details about the movement of money.
There were nine transactions for the amount of half a million dollars from Ohtani's accounts to a bookmaker.
There is absolutely no feasible way an interpreter can moved $4.5 Million from Ohtani's account without someone noticing.
They haven't even explained how or why the interpreter had any access to Ohtani's accounts.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
**They haven't even explained how or why the interpreter had any access to Ohtani's accounts. **
WINNER!!!!!
Or why any gambling operation would allow anyone to bet that kind of money unless they know that person has the ability to pay. Know your client (KYC).
In other words, even if the interpreter was the client, it's likely Ohtani had agreed to guarantee the bets.
**They haven't even explained how or why the interpreter had any access to Ohtani's accounts. **
WINNER!!!!!
Or why any gambling operation would allow anyone to bet that kind of money unless they know that person has the ability to pay. Know your client (KYC).
In other words, even if the interpreter was the client, it's likely Ohtani had agreed to guarantee the bets.
I had been wondering but I don't think I mentioned it before, if Ohtani had a history growing up of behavior such as drug use, drinking, gambling, etc. I haven't yet seen that he did.
If he didn't have any of these behavior problems, it would be quite unusual, if not near impossible, for him to strike it rich with MLB money, then suddenly out of nowhere develop a gambling addiction problem.
As of now unless new information comes in, it seems that the interpreter stole the money, and placed bets with the illegal bookie. Ohtani had nothing to do with any of it.
If the interpreter was paying off his gambling losses on time, it's more than reasonable to presume the bookie would have extended him more credit, and even very high credit. Which seems like exactly what happened. The bookie wouldn't have cared about the details of how or where the interpreter got the money, just as long as he paid his losses.
BTW - Sports bettors can learn from this. Don't ever try to "Martingale" your losses. When ya have a bad week, it's spilled milk, forever lost, and ya gotta let it go. I've known some sports bettors who with good credit from bookies, kept doubling up on their bets trying to get even, and wound up getting absolutely crushed. This appears to be exactly what happened to the interpreter.
If the interpreter was paying off his gambling losses on time, it's more than reasonable to presume the bookie would have extended him more credit, and even very high credit. Which seems like exactly what happened. The bookie wouldn't have cared about the details of how or where the interpreter got the money, just as long as he paid his losses.
While I understand this may sound sarcastic:
You may want to re-evaluate this paragraph by substituting the word "bookie" with "stevek" and assuming you just paid Joe Blow $500,000 and the interpreter owes you $500,000.
The feds already found Othani innocence which is no surprise. The interpreter is in the process of making a plea deal with the feds.
I think at this point Othani think Othani knew he was using the money which he likely did to have 16 million go missing, but nothing will happen to Othani
$16,000,000... Probably just a rounding error. Ohtani was cleared by the fed! must be innocent. I think we can all agree that Ohtani has an iq of 6 and didnt commit sports betting. Makes perfect sense.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
To clarify, I am thinking about this as four issues:
1) How is an interpreter allowed to incur millions of dollars of gambling debt unless he has proof of the ability to pay millions of dollars?
2) Was the money "stolen" from Ohtani?
3) Did Ohtani, himself, break any laws? and
4) Did Ohtani knowingly or inadvertently break any MLB rules on gambling?
Unless the interpreter was demonstrably,independently wealthy, the likelihood that the gambling operation was satisfied that Ohtani was guaranteeing the interpreter is extremely high.
Given that, Ohtani had provided tacit approval for the payments. The idea that there would not be controls in place for accounts that transact sums that large would be highly negligent. It is basically nonsensical, except for a conspiracy among the interpreter and those with legal access to the accounts.
There are several scenarios where Ohtani may not have broken any laws.
Whether or not all of those scenarios don't violate MLB policy remains to be seen.
MLB probably has a vested interest that Ohtani did not. I think it would look bad, though, if they do not investigate the nature of the betting to verify the exclusion of baseball.
@bgr said:
What laws are people thinking Ohtani may have broken?
If he ever won sports bet, then Money Laundering would be the first crime I suspected.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
If the interpreter was paying off his gambling losses on time, it's more than reasonable to presume the bookie would have extended him more credit, and even very high credit. Which seems like exactly what happened. The bookie wouldn't have cared about the details of how or where the interpreter got the money, just as long as he paid his losses.
While I understand this may sound sarcastic:
You may want to re-evaluate this paragraph by substituting the word "bookie" with "stevek" and assuming you just paid Joe Blow $500,000 and the interpreter owes you $500,000.
Not sarcastic at all if I read it right. I think your assertion is that bookies might not have the capital behind them to absorb a potential bad debt or slow pay from a customer. Which is why some bookies, even sometimes large bookies, might lay-off part of a large bet with other bookies to decrease their risk. Sports bettors don't always lose in the short run, and they expect to be paid promptly or they may no longer do business with that bookie.
I've known some bookies who couldn't sustain their business model because they were too liberal with credit. and not prompt enough with paying their winning customers..
Let's tell it like it is - it's not uncommon for a sports star to get scammed out of his money in some way, shape, or form. There are a number of famous sports stars who became dead broke because of this.
So whether it's an interpreter with access to his money, or some shyster who cons the player out of his money say in a loser business deal, or whatever...to the player it doesn't matter, he's dead broke.
The "I'm innocent, my interpreter stole from me" story doesnt make the first bit of sense. The interpreter isnt a financial advisors. HOW did they have access to an account with some $16,000,000 in it.
Why would the interpretor have access to anything financial? He is a man being paid to translate. He isnt an accountant, agent, tax man, anything.
Make it make sense. How can an interpreter get access to Ohtani's financials?
For this story to be believeable Ohtani would need to be the most gullible millionaire in histroy.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
Ohtani has banked over ONE HUNDRED MILLION in endorsement money the past couple years. However.....I say this with trepidation, but it feels logical. He paid little, if any attention to his bank statements, presuming he couldn't even interpret them, or they were being filed/concealed by Ippei before he ever got a chance to look. He was busy doing his job or making commercials. He trusted the guy. He f'd up.
He was more of a personal assistant. He wasnt just someone hired by a team that was just there at the ball park. Hed been with Othani for years and even after the news broke he was on the private plane with his wife and Othani and his wife to head over to the series in Korea.
If you look back they had a very different story at the start of him covering the debt and that is most likely true. What most likely happened was MLB or the lawyers stepped in and alerted the team that Othani would possibly be facing a suspension for illegal gambling and the story quickly changed.
Nothings going to happen to Othani other than some private conversations from the Dodgers and MLB
For this story to be believeable Ohtani would need to be the most gullible millionaire in histroy.
Go watch the TnT Rich & Shameless documentary about Dennis Rodman and some woman that he hired to basically run his life and who ended up stealing millions from him. She did the same to former NFL RB Ricky Williams.
There are plenty of gullible millionaires out there lol.
Joe Pompliano @JoePompliano The Department of Justice also says Mizuhara used Ohtani's bank account to buy 1,000 baseball cards online that are worth $325,000.
Ohtani provided his cell phone to law enforcement during the investigation, and they say there is no evidence that he knew what Mizuhara was doing.
Wait just a minute! The interpreter is now buying Shohei Ohtani cards to pump & dump them? This looks like its getting serious. 🤣😂
For this story to be believeable Ohtani would need to be the most gullible millionaire in histroy.
Go watch the TnT Rich & Shameless documentary about Dennis Rodman and some woman that he hired to basically run his life and who ended up stealing millions from him. She did the same to former NFL RB Ricky Williams.
There are plenty of gullible millionaires out there lol.
That's sad, Ricky Williams is my favorite Dolphins player ever.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
Conspiracy theorists are such a sad group, lol. Once you decide you "know" what is going on, no evidence will sway your original opinion. In fact, studies have shown that being shown irrefutable proof that what you "know" is incorrect, only makes conspiracy theorists cling even harder to what they believe is true.
The bookie didn't require any proof that the interpreter was good for his bets, what he did require is for the interpreter to pay off part of his balance. Which he did by wiring money from Ohtani's account. That is literally all a bookie requires to extend more credit, that you show you can start paying off your losses.
Wealthy people get robbed by people they trust all the time. Athletes seem to be particularly susceptible to it because they tend to put their trust into people they know (ie friends) who invariably screw them over. Ohtani set himself up to be taken advantage of by his interpreter by having him be the go-between for pretty much everything.
"If you look back they had a very different story at the start of him covering the debt and that is most likely true. What most likely happened was MLB or the lawyers stepped in and alerted the team that Othani would possibly be facing a suspension for illegal gambling and the story quickly changed."
It appears that was a story cooked up by the interpreter. Desperate people, like the interpreter, will say and do anything to delay facing the music.
In the end, it looks like Ohtani trusted the wrong person and got taken to the cleaners because of it.
If actual evidence, rather than meaningless speculation, is unearthed that Ohtani was involved, then folks should reevaluate. But as of now, this is nothing but another story of an athlete being scammed for millions of dollars by someone they trusted.
"Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail. However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account and said Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement." https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft
It was a statement released by his team that the lawyers and likely MLB quickly told them to take it back. I dont really care or think he should be punished, but if were going to do evidence then do the evidence.
Othani and Mizuhara and their families were on Othanis privte plane to the South Korea series after the news broke.
Theres basically no chance no one on his team wasnt aware of 16 million missing to alert him. These werent bad investments
Yes it is very unlikely that Othani didnt know or wasnt participating in some way but I understand why hes being shielded. He is the single most valuable player in MLB and its not even close. I dont care if he never gets punished and dont think he should be anyways, but its just silly to pretend he was somehow blindsided by all of this
@fergie23 said:
Conspiracy theorists are such a sad group, lol. Once you decide you "know" what is going on, no evidence will sway your original opinion. In fact, studies have shown that being shown irrefutable proof that what you "know" is incorrect, only makes conspiracy theorists cling even harder to what they believe is true.
Not to steer this Ohtani discourse down the wrong path but your statement above is so true. For those that haven't seen it yet,check out The Truth vs Alex Jones doumentary just released on Netflix to see the truth of this. Its about the Sandy Hook massacre and definitely worth the watch,imo.
Comments
I misunderstood,
I'm not sure about Casino Credit, I've never used it so I dont know about that and Sports Betting
😂🤣😂🤣
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C49Q_D0u3wj/?igsh=MXNoYTY4dGQ0ZGN6bQ==
Eric
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Yes, because Pete Rose is the guy ya want to consult for accurate information on this subject. 😂
I seriously doubt he has anything tax wise that would get him in any more trouble than potentially having to write a check. He has to pay taxes to at least 2 and often times 3 countries if he plays a game in Canada and all the states he played in not even counting endorsement countries or this year where they played in South Korea as well.
He has lawyers, agents etc. CAA is a massive agency that either has tax people in house or relationships with some that their clients use. Its a pretty specialized thing and a lot of the players use the same ones/agencies.
This is also why I dont believe the money was stolen, but I dont think him paying a debt matters either. The initial statement was that he paid off the debt than the lawyers got involved and the money was stolen to protect him. I think the initial statement was most likely to be correct and he may have even been involved some, but I really dont care. He pitched through a torn UCL and has put up MVP numbers every year, hes not throwing games or anything like that.
I dont think anything will happen to him other than maybe a slap on the wrist and of course a behind the scenes talking too
Yes we heard the words. But were they Ohtani's or scripted for him?
Without question a statement that lawyers and a pr team worked on over the weekend
While i certainly agree if is was some common drug dealer or gambler that is nto the case here. The PR and name recognition factor is threw the roof.
An investigation into someone like Ohtani could be a career maker and huge stepping stone for some assistant director or federal prosecutor.
Unless otherwise specified my posts represent only my opinion, not fact.
The latest details about the movement of money.
There were nine transactions for the amount of half a million dollars from Ohtani's accounts to a bookmaker.
There is absolutely no feasible way an interpreter can moved $4.5 Million from Ohtani's account without someone noticing.
They haven't even explained how or why the interpreter had any access to Ohtani's accounts.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
WINNER!!!!!
Unless otherwise specified my posts represent only my opinion, not fact.
Or why any gambling operation would allow anyone to bet that kind of money unless they know that person has the ability to pay. Know your client (KYC).
In other words, even if the interpreter was the client, it's likely Ohtani had agreed to guarantee the bets.
Exactly
I had been wondering but I don't think I mentioned it before, if Ohtani had a history growing up of behavior such as drug use, drinking, gambling, etc. I haven't yet seen that he did.
If he didn't have any of these behavior problems, it would be quite unusual, if not near impossible, for him to strike it rich with MLB money, then suddenly out of nowhere develop a gambling addiction problem.
As of now unless new information comes in, it seems that the interpreter stole the money, and placed bets with the illegal bookie. Ohtani had nothing to do with any of it.
If the interpreter was paying off his gambling losses on time, it's more than reasonable to presume the bookie would have extended him more credit, and even very high credit. Which seems like exactly what happened. The bookie wouldn't have cared about the details of how or where the interpreter got the money, just as long as he paid his losses.
BTW - Sports bettors can learn from this. Don't ever try to "Martingale" your losses. When ya have a bad week, it's spilled milk, forever lost, and ya gotta let it go. I've known some sports bettors who with good credit from bookies, kept doubling up on their bets trying to get even, and wound up getting absolutely crushed. This appears to be exactly what happened to the interpreter.
The news has dropped that Ippei stole more than 16 million from Shohei to finance his gambling habit.
While I understand this may sound sarcastic:
You may want to re-evaluate this paragraph by substituting the word "bookie" with "stevek" and assuming you just paid Joe Blow $500,000 and the interpreter owes you $500,000.
The feds already found Othani innocence which is no surprise. The interpreter is in the process of making a plea deal with the feds.
I think at this point Othani think Othani knew he was using the money which he likely did to have 16 million go missing, but nothing will happen to Othani
$16,000,000... Probably just a rounding error. Ohtani was cleared by the fed! must be innocent. I think we can all agree that Ohtani has an iq of 6 and didnt commit sports betting. Makes perfect sense.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
To clarify, I am thinking about this as four issues:
1) How is an interpreter allowed to incur millions of dollars of gambling debt unless he has proof of the ability to pay millions of dollars?
2) Was the money "stolen" from Ohtani?
3) Did Ohtani, himself, break any laws? and
4) Did Ohtani knowingly or inadvertently break any MLB rules on gambling?
Unless the interpreter was demonstrably,independently wealthy, the likelihood that the gambling operation was satisfied that Ohtani was guaranteeing the interpreter is extremely high.
Given that, Ohtani had provided tacit approval for the payments. The idea that there would not be controls in place for accounts that transact sums that large would be highly negligent. It is basically nonsensical, except for a conspiracy among the interpreter and those with legal access to the accounts.
There are several scenarios where Ohtani may not have broken any laws.
Whether or not all of those scenarios don't violate MLB policy remains to be seen.
MLB probably has a vested interest that Ohtani did not. I think it would look bad, though, if they do not investigate the nature of the betting to verify the exclusion of baseball.
What laws are people thinking Ohtani may have broken?
Nobody is concerned about federal or State law, it's all about the question of affiliation with betting on MLB directly or indirectly or not at all
If he ever won sports bet, then Money Laundering would be the first crime I suspected.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
Not sarcastic at all if I read it right. I think your assertion is that bookies might not have the capital behind them to absorb a potential bad debt or slow pay from a customer. Which is why some bookies, even sometimes large bookies, might lay-off part of a large bet with other bookies to decrease their risk. Sports bettors don't always lose in the short run, and they expect to be paid promptly or they may no longer do business with that bookie.
I've known some bookies who couldn't sustain their business model because they were too liberal with credit. and not prompt enough with paying their winning customers..
Let's tell it like it is - it's not uncommon for a sports star to get scammed out of his money in some way, shape, or form. There are a number of famous sports stars who became dead broke because of this.
So whether it's an interpreter with access to his money, or some shyster who cons the player out of his money say in a loser business deal, or whatever...to the player it doesn't matter, he's dead broke.
The "I'm innocent, my interpreter stole from me" story doesnt make the first bit of sense. The interpreter isnt a financial advisors. HOW did they have access to an account with some $16,000,000 in it.
Why would the interpretor have access to anything financial? He is a man being paid to translate. He isnt an accountant, agent, tax man, anything.
Make it make sense. How can an interpreter get access to Ohtani's financials?
For this story to be believeable Ohtani would need to be the most gullible millionaire in histroy.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
Ohtani has banked over ONE HUNDRED MILLION in endorsement money the past couple years. However.....I say this with trepidation, but it feels logical. He paid little, if any attention to his bank statements, presuming he couldn't even interpret them, or they were being filed/concealed by Ippei before he ever got a chance to look. He was busy doing his job or making commercials. He trusted the guy. He f'd up.
He was more of a personal assistant. He wasnt just someone hired by a team that was just there at the ball park. Hed been with Othani for years and even after the news broke he was on the private plane with his wife and Othani and his wife to head over to the series in Korea.
If you look back they had a very different story at the start of him covering the debt and that is most likely true. What most likely happened was MLB or the lawyers stepped in and alerted the team that Othani would possibly be facing a suspension for illegal gambling and the story quickly changed.
Nothings going to happen to Othani other than some private conversations from the Dodgers and MLB
If Othani was at the end of his career instead of in his prime, I expect MLB would have a very different attitude than they are showing now.
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Ralph
The affidavit is the most interesting thing I have read in a while. This could be a movie.
Go watch the TnT Rich & Shameless documentary about Dennis Rodman and some woman that he hired to basically run his life and who ended up stealing millions from him. She did the same to former NFL RB Ricky Williams.
There are plenty of gullible millionaires out there lol.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
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Joe Pompliano
@JoePompliano
The Department of Justice also says Mizuhara used Ohtani's bank account to buy 1,000 baseball cards online that are worth $325,000.
Ohtani provided his cell phone to law enforcement during the investigation, and they say there is no evidence that he knew what Mizuhara was doing.
Wait just a minute! The interpreter is now buying Shohei Ohtani cards to pump & dump them? This looks like its getting serious. 🤣😂
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
That's sad, Ricky Williams is my favorite Dolphins player ever.
The substantial truth doctrine is an important defense in defamation law that allows individuals to avoid liability if the gist of their statement was true.
Conspiracy theorists are such a sad group, lol. Once you decide you "know" what is going on, no evidence will sway your original opinion. In fact, studies have shown that being shown irrefutable proof that what you "know" is incorrect, only makes conspiracy theorists cling even harder to what they believe is true.
The bookie didn't require any proof that the interpreter was good for his bets, what he did require is for the interpreter to pay off part of his balance. Which he did by wiring money from Ohtani's account. That is literally all a bookie requires to extend more credit, that you show you can start paying off your losses.
Wealthy people get robbed by people they trust all the time. Athletes seem to be particularly susceptible to it because they tend to put their trust into people they know (ie friends) who invariably screw them over. Ohtani set himself up to be taken advantage of by his interpreter by having him be the go-between for pretty much everything.
"If you look back they had a very different story at the start of him covering the debt and that is most likely true. What most likely happened was MLB or the lawyers stepped in and alerted the team that Othani would possibly be facing a suspension for illegal gambling and the story quickly changed."
It appears that was a story cooked up by the interpreter. Desperate people, like the interpreter, will say and do anything to delay facing the music.
In the end, it looks like Ohtani trusted the wrong person and got taken to the cleaners because of it.
If actual evidence, rather than meaningless speculation, is unearthed that Ohtani was involved, then folks should reevaluate. But as of now, this is nothing but another story of an athlete being scammed for millions of dollars by someone they trusted.
Robb
"Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail. However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account and said Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement."
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft
It was a statement released by his team that the lawyers and likely MLB quickly told them to take it back. I dont really care or think he should be punished, but if were going to do evidence then do the evidence.
Othani and Mizuhara and their families were on Othanis privte plane to the South Korea series after the news broke.
He was in the dugout for game 1 of the series
Theres basically no chance no one on his team wasnt aware of 16 million missing to alert him. These werent bad investments
Yes it is very unlikely that Othani didnt know or wasnt participating in some way but I understand why hes being shielded. He is the single most valuable player in MLB and its not even close. I dont care if he never gets punished and dont think he should be anyways, but its just silly to pretend he was somehow blindsided by all of this
Not to steer this Ohtani discourse down the wrong path but your statement above is so true. For those that haven't seen it yet,check out The Truth vs Alex Jones doumentary just released on Netflix to see the truth of this. Its about the Sandy Hook massacre and definitely worth the watch,imo.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
@fergie23
I’m pretty sure deductive reasoning isn’t allowed here. You’re supposed to form your conclusion first then support it with conjecture.