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"Do you still believe in Shohei Ohtani? I'm not sure"
82FootballWaxMemorys
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Do you still believe in Shohei Ohtani? I'm not sure
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-28/ippei-mizuhara-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-mystery-gambling-scandal
Excellent points made in article!
Lot of stuff that does not cancel out nor line up logically and the surface barely scratched yet. Starting to believe this will be a huge dumpster fire. Glad I have zero "investment" / "holdings" in Ohtani cards.
Unless otherwise specified my posts represent only my opinion, not fact.
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If he truly had nothing to do in this fiasco and is telling the truth, he should be fine.
on the other hand, if he did have ANY part in this, he has painted himself into a corner with his news conference.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Already him/his camp have issued contradicting statements. Normally not what happens when one is being truthful. MLB may (or may not?) choose to look other way but this may be a perfect PR/Political type situation for a Federal and or CA State prosecutor looking to make their bone.
I think now it's obvious what THE MLB story for 2024 will be...
Unless otherwise specified my posts represent only my opinion, not fact.
I 100% believe that Shohei Ohtani is guilty as sin. If they had been honest at any point until now the story would have died down. BUT because the cover up is always worse than the crime, and Ohtani is still in cover up mode... It will keep getting worse and worse until there is absolute undeniable proof in writing from multiple sources.
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.
Unfortunately in most things people are guilty before being proven innocent
I can say this much, if I'm Ohtani and I'm 100% guilt free and innocent, I'm having a press conference every day professing my innocence and giving the public all the info they want regardless if a lawyer or MLB tells me to keep quiet.
Forget this pretend language barrier thing, it's complete and utter nonsense
I'm keeping an open mind about it. But until i see evidence to the contrary, I think Ohtani's story of his innocence is credible.
Again though as mentioned in another thread, it's basically impossible to tell if somebody is lying unless ya hear how the words are spoken. The interpreter deprives the listener of that clue.
Which version of his story? There are 2 from his side already thus I'm positive there will be more.
While of course I could be wrong seems like classic cover up confusion mode. Especially given the PR/Damage Control folks he's now aligned who are "famous" for their muddy the waters deflection tactics.
"The Fish Stinks from the Head Down"
Unless otherwise specified my posts represent only my opinion, not fact.
The article points out that for Ohtani's story to be true, the interpreter would have to have been so skilled at theft and coving his tracks that financial advisors would never catch the millions of Ohtani's funds being spent on gambling. Which is totally unfeasible. Basic accounting systems would have found this WAY before now.
The only way that makes sense is if Ohtani was telling the advisors the whole time that he was spending the money and how it was being spent. So Ohtani HAD to be involved with the bets and is clearly just blaming the interpreter.
His story doesn't make the first bit of sense when you compare it to reality, all the details are wrong. Every last explanation causes more questions, and his story has changed as time has gone on.
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.
You all seem to be sorely mistaken about how much accountants/advisors are allowed to see of an athletes personal banking accounts.
As for the amount, if he gave his interpreter access to his account, a few $500k outflows he probably wouldn’t even notice. He makes $50-$100 million dollars a year and I guarantee he has outflows that would boggle the mind.
As for legal jeopardy, Ohtani has none. He would never be prosecuted for sports betting in CA because there is enough reasonable doubt he ever placed a bet to make any prosecutor stay far, far away. As for the IRS, he has nothing to worry about. Losing money is never prosecuted. Worst case, he exceeded the amount you can gift another person but that falls on the other person not reporting the amount over the gift allowance.
In the end, who knows what happened but when you are dealing with the super rich, anything is possible. Personally, I would tend to believe his story of having no idea as I just don’t know many people, especially rich ones, that would bail just a friend out for several million dollars. The whole language barrier allowed his interpreter to intercept everything damaging. Ohtani set himself up to be scammed.
I have zero Ohtani cards so my opinion is not biased due to what would happen to his card values.
Robb
"Which version of his story?"
The one from his press conference.
All of what you says makes sense except that it's a very real possibility that he could be directly involved in betting on MLB
That is the biggest part of the story that will be the biggest deal and nobody knows this to be true or false just yet, the rest is pretty irrelevant
Obviously his story doesnt add up, but hes going to be fine anyways. The only danger would be if he bet on MLB and more specifically his own games which he didnt and would be insanely hard to prove. MLB has no interest in trying to prove it anyways. The penalty for illegal betting is a small fine and California or the Feds would have to actually prosecute it when theres far bigger crimes they are choosing not to.
Hell pay a fine or something at worst. The interpreter will take the fall if there is any fall to take. Simply paying off the guys debt wont get Othani kicked out of MLB
Dodgers didn't see this coming.
Or if this interpreter folds and they find out it was Ohtani and there were MLB bets he will not be "Fine"
There is no outcome where Ohtani will be fine. The MLB has every incentive to throw the book at him.
They cannot have a high profile player betting, it's poison to their brand.
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.
Bottom line - If Ohtani directly or indirectly bet on baseball, no ifs, ands, or buts, he's gone from MLB. That is a certainty.
Even if he "folds" theres no proof. Othani would have to basically be recorded psychically making the bets himself which wont exist. He wont fold anyways. He already changed his story to put the blame on himself. Hes not really facing any major penalties other than not being able to work for MLB again and maybe a few months in jail with probation afterwards.
Not to mention he would basically be banned from Japan if he attempted to take down Othani. Its all hypothetical s that Othani ever did anything, I think he probably knowingly paid the debt but that shouldnt be an issue
As I said I don't dislike Ohtani nor do I have any of his cards. Meaning I don't have any vested interest either way but I would get a chuckle if MLB got themselves in a bind over this
Yea nothing will happen to him. Theyre already in a bind over Bauer who was cleared by multiple courts and just shoved on the Yankees down in Mexico meanwhile Ozuna and Aroldis Chapman are still playing. Even Wander Franco is getting treated better so far
As long as Othani doesnt challenge the league he will be fine. I would love the league to get pushed into a corner over hypocrisy but I just dont see it happening here
Law enforcement normally has no interest in whether someone like Ohtani gambled with an illegal bookie. I've never heard of any gambler being prosecuted for betting with an illegal bookie.
Basically the only time this comes into play is when a bookie gets violent towards his customers who owe him money, and then the customers contact the police about it. The bookie gets arrested, not the customers.
Some folks out there think that Pete Rose went to prison for gambling with an illegal bookie. He went to prison for tax evasion, not for gambling.
follow the money. why has no one in mlb said this?
They probably already know where that road ends
Just like Big Al
Important to note even funds acquired illegally are taxable.
You're right, but my understanding is despite Pete's so-called inside information, he still lost money gambling, thus no tax was owed on that.
From what I've read, Pete was prosecuted and imprisoned for not paying taxes on money he made at an autograph signing show. Around 70k of income or something like that.
Pete intentionally in a dark humor sort of way, paraphrase, stated that he's the only person he knows who went to prison for properly paying 95% of his taxes. He does have a point. Probably most would have just received a notice to pay the tax due along with a monetary penalty.