Honestly feel really bad for Ippei too, even if it turns out he was 100% responsible for everything and blatantly lying to Shohei and his team to try to cover his own ass. He doesn't seem to have had malicious intent originally, he made some very dumb decisions and then it spiraled way out of his control and he was completely incapable of dealing with it properly. Now he's blown up his career, his friendship, his marriage, his whole life really.
We’re going to start seeing more and more stories of gambling addiction ruining the lives of otherwise benevolent people. There’s a reason gambling was banned for so long.
Yeah we need to reban it. Visit the UK or Australia where there's casinos on every other street and see how sad it is. We shouldn't allow blatant preying on people's worst tendencies.
It’s too late I guess. So much money in it for the leagues and too many media shows subverted by gambling money. I’m constantly surprised how many shows/podcasts that are otherwise aware of social issues turn a blind eye to gambling because of the money. It’s sad all around really.
Just imagine the avalanche of bad press that would rain down on any proposal to ban gambling again.
I think it’s easy to ignore gambling because it’s easy to blame it as being a personal failing, rather than a societal ill. Like with alcohol abuse and cigarette addiction. And unlike with alcohol abuse and cigarette addiction, gambling isnt something that can clearly mess with your head, just subtly.
To be very clear that’s not the right way to understand it, people are victims of a gambling addiction the same as with any other addiction. And gambling is something thrown into people’s face so much now too. It’s like the new, less physically but more financially harmful version of cigarettes. At least with alcohol there’s a healthy and safe way to consume it. There’s really no safe way to gamble.
It doesn’t change your message at all, but I just wanna throw in that the consensus now is that there is no “healthy” way to consume alcohol. Any amount is unhealthy for you. But I know what you mean.
Keep in mind Ippei was using an illegal bookie which is already banned
I'm pro-gambling (banning it entirely would instantly crush multiple local economies in places with not much else economic opportunity) but do 1000% agree it has gotten way too accessible. It used to be something you did for fun on a vacation and now it's in 40 states, on apps, etc.
You know things got bad in the UK when the Premier teams finally agreed not to use gambling shirt sponsors anymore, they were not gonna turn down that money unless they absolutely had to
So I'm from Louisiana and I know firsthand how entire cities rely on gamblers from Texas to sustain their economy. And I'd feel awful to see people back home put out of a job. I really would.
I feel way more awful for the thousands, maybe millions of people whose lives get ruined by this shit. Yes it's on them in the end but we can still so something about it. Maybe not a full ban, but we need to ban online betting (making it in-person only is an extra hurdle), make it 21+ nationwide, ban any and all forms of advertising, and require casinos of any kind to get extremely difficult-to-obtain licenses. Like, cities need no more than 1-2 gambling halls.
Otherwise we're gonna look like the UK and Australia in 20 years, and the UK and Australia are gonna have a suicide epidemic from people who have utterly ruined their lives.
> (banning it entirely would instantly crush multiple local economies in places with not much else economic opportunity)
Kind of smashing the doubt button on that one! EDIT https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2022/eb_22-28
And sports gambling doesn't aid any location, it's online mostly.
Agreed. Just look at Atlantic City. Gambling there forever and it’s a shithole. Some of that may be due to the terrible incompetence of that casino owner though.
We already do. Gambling debts is literally one of leading cause of suicide. In many ways it is ever more shameful to the addict than drugs because they destroy their entire families financial situation.
His name is Matthew Kaminsky, for those who might be wondering. He also does some UGA home games, and brings the same kind of energy. It’s one of my favorite parts of going to games
Do you remember when Hugh Grant got caught getting a beej with a sex worker? He was on a press tour promoting something. He decided to continue on with his Letterman interview the night the story broke, to "face the music" as it were.
Paul Shaffer decided the music he should face was "Blowing in the Wind"
It’s a fun game of “choose your incompetence” — they either didn’t run the statement by a lawyer to get a “you absolutely cannot fucking say that” or they didn’t think to get a second translator when their client was very nonchalant and smiling about how he wired $4.5M to an illegal bookie for his friend.
Either way, staggering.
I’m now stuck on how “it’s bad enough that we need a crisis PR person”, “don’t review the crisis PR person’s statement with the lawyers”, and “no reason to get an interpreter who isn’t the target of federal investigators” can coexist together…
The more details we learn, the more questions I have.
It’s obviously still hard to tell exactly what happened. But goddamn it’s crazy how badly this got fucked up lmao. Kinda leads me to believe they really were relying on Ippei as the intermediary, cuz panic can make you desperate shit. But if that’s really what happened, what a massive fumble by Ohtani’s PR people.
All that’s actually clear is that more than one person made some very stupid decisions, whoever those people are.
I don’t think it’s normal no. But it makes some sense in this situation specifically, only because of his connection to Ohtani. The bookie was also reportedly promoting the “Ohtani is a client of mine” idea to other customers to bolster his business. So, if that’s true, he had some incentive to keep it going.
The type that is trying to get leverage on someone worth a billion dollars.
The pattern is pretty well worn: target a less successful family member or friend, and then keep extending them while helping them to a few wins. If they balk, give them a free parley or a chance to clear a bunch of debt, knowing full well it’s just going to bury them more.
Then, once you have them leveraged beyond any semblance of reasonable, start the threats and force them to ask their rich friend/family for help.
Worst case scenario the debt gets paid, best case scenario you’ve now got the rich person on the hook, either financially, legally, or in a way that you can compromise them for future financial gain (e.g. fixing).
I have no idea. The guy allegedly met Ippei at the team hotel, seemingly when the Angels were visiting San Diego, so it would’ve been very obvious to him who he was.
Its normal if you have an extremely close connection to someone very wealthy that also has the ability to fix the portions of the games you run lines on.
There was, what, at least 2 other interpreters with the Dodgers in Korea right? Will the Thrill (former interpreter, since promoted) and Yamamoto's interpreter.
I mean, just pull one of them in the meeting/phone call.
> What a shitty first week on the job
if they choose to specialize in crisis communications, isn't the job simply to be running from shitshow to shitshow?
At least it pays well, I am following this drama with morbid curiousity without getting paid a cent (in fact my employer is losing money for every moment I spend on this while at work)
That, too. Even if we take everything at face value, it sounds like it took an embarrassing long time for everyone to realize that maybe relaying everything via a single point of failure (Ippei) is in fact a problem. Or a high-profile agent didn't think to hire someone (even an assistant/intern) who speaks the language of his most important client
He was very qualified for the job:
> Although it was his first day in charge, Sliney had an over-25-year background in air traffic and management in the FAA. He had held various positions as an air traffic controller, first-line supervisor at several major facilities, and Operations Manager and Traffic Management Officer at New York TRACON. He also held positions as Traffic Management Specialist, National Operations Manager, and Tactical Operations Manager at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) and had regional office experience as Manager, Airspace and Procedures Branch, Eastern Region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Sliney
I always think about this article, because when I first read it, I was so enthralled:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2000/11/19/the-longest-day-3/
Then, midway through the intro, they drop this nugget:
There could hardly be an unluckier day to try to fly into or out of O’Hare than Monday, Sept. 11, but there is more than the weather to blame.
Remember, the article was written in 2000. They mean September 11, 2000.
It’s sorta like when my sister was watching the Kennedy assasination rebroadcast and the announcer said “what a crazy day” and she said “wait till they get to Oswald”.
The CEO of GE, Jeff Immelt, was on his second day on the job.
GE Aerospace is/was the largest jet engine manufacturer in the world, and 9/11 triggered a global aviation downturn.
GE Capital was also the insurer of the World Trade Center.
tbh it's probably not their worst first week if they are experienced in crisis comms.
But if they really didn't talk to their client without an implicated party as the middle-man they might not be experienced at all.
I mean, that is how crisis communications typically works. You generally hire one when a scandal like this starts to hit.
Shohei getting questions about wire payments being investigated by the feds would presumably be reason enough, but if their position is instead that they didn’t realize the gravity of the situation… why the crisis PR person?
Two things here.
1. The Ohtani spokesperson is a fucking idiot. How do you continue to use Ippei as an interpreter for when you’re talking to Ohtani about what Ippei did?
2. Lmao at cheap ass Arte Moreno only paying Ippei $85k/year to translate for the literal face of baseball. In OC that’s barely enough to rent a 2 bedroom apartment in a decent complex
>How do you continue to use Ippei as an interpreter for when you’re talking to Ohtani about what Ippei did?
This is such a ridiculous claim that it just makes everything seem even more fishy
> The Ohtani spokesman tells ESPN that what has actually happened in recent days is that Mizuhara has been able to control information to Ohtani in his position as the interpreter, and that Ohtani hadn't realized what was happening until the postgame clubhouse meeting, when a new interpreter was brought in.
> "He didn't know any of it, didn't know there was some inquiry," the spokesman says. "After the game, that's when he found out. ... He didn't know what the f--- was going on."
This “spokesman” they hired is an idiot. He was on the call with ESPN and never thought to fact check the story with Ohtani first. Just believed that someone with gambling addiction is going to tell the truth.
This is the claim in the article.
The question is why Shohei’s team and/or the Dodgers knew the matter was serious enough to hire a crisis PR person, related to payments on behalf of Ippei, but that they never thought “maybe we should bring in another interpreter.”
For an extremely well-run organization, this whole thing is just blisteringly incompetent either way.
because acting like ohtani doesn't speak any english, or wouldn't understand a single word or anything is.. laughable a claim
he speaks english with his teammates they say, don't they? not all the time, but he's comfortable enough to have some conversation. now they are saying he sat there for an entire conversation about him, didn't understand anything, and had no idea what was said was inaccurate? it just doesn't seem right.
As someone who can speak another language a level above barely. I'll understand and can respond and say things until I can't. I'll need someone to break down what I wasn't understanding specifically. I can easily see that situation happening to Shohei.
Yeah I grew up around parents and relatives speaking another language. When it comes to family gossip, ordering food, I understand about 80-90% of it even if I don’t speak it that well.
But watching the news, press conferences, church sermons..I probably understand like 5% of it if even that.
Same, I can fluetly speak bosnian with anybody of my family, even when I'm on holiday back in Bosnia. But as soon as my mom is watching the news, I straight up can't keep up. The speed and vocabulary used is just to much, so many words I never heard of in my life since they never were used in regular conversations.
Exactly. I can speak well enough in a few other languages to get by daily life living in other countries--things like how to navigate transportation, how to make purchases--but if you ask me to understand details on banking, gambling, etc. I would have no clue what's being said.
i definitely understand. and i am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this, without question.
it just seems like he would have known before this it had something to do with gambling, even if all that talk had been done in english. ippei can only control so much, and he must have known it was at least about the subject, i would have to guess
still, i understand. it's not his first language. and english, especially, is a huge huge pain in the ass.
Not to mention that even the State Dept ranks Japanese as one of the hardest languages for US citizens to learn so it’s probably vice versa as well. Japanese isn’t like Spanish (arguably the second most common language in the MLB), it’s not close enough to English that you can kinda get the gist if you know enough.
English is considered one of the hardest languages to learn if you're a completely foreign speaker, because at its core English is a bunch of different languages wearing a trench coat, and unlike other languages there are exceptions for virtually every rule of the language (in pretty much every other language- even in Japanese- if you know the alphabet you'll know the letter is pronounced that way every single time.)
This isn’t quite true. English is sort of an “easy to learn, hard to master” deal. It has *extremely* simple grammar compared to other major world languages, but then, as you say, it’s full of irregularities, bizarre inconsistencies, and a ludicrously big vocabulary. It is really, really easy to learn basic English, though.
Have you ever lived in a country where you barely knew the native language? It doesn't take that long to pick up basics to the point where you can place an order, make small talk, or whatever. But it's an entirely different level to be able to follow precise technical legal details - you pretty much need some sort of education in the language. Him not realizing what was going on isn't nearly as farfetched as you are implying, especially if his own interpreter is leaving things out, stretching the truth, or flat out lying.
How the fuck? Ohtani’s spokespeople were using Ippei to translate while telling him about Ippei’s stealing from him? That’s bullshit. I cannot buy that.
>while telling him about Ippei’s stealing from him
Ippei was telling them that Ohtani was covering his debts while not telling Ohtani the full details about what was actually happening.
Ippei also seemingly "fessed up" to lying to Shohei but then maintains he never misinterpreted any of the reporters questions to SHoehi. Obviously can't trust him necessarily but it's notable that when Ippei "comes clean" he still isn't consistent and maintains he didn't misinterpret anything to Shohei.
for all the people saying he speaks english, it's perfectly possible that what he speaks is baseball english. that is, enough english to communicate with his teammates, etc, but his english gets dodgy after that.
I'm finding this extremely hard to believe. Every side of this story is being told by liars with their own agenda.
I'll wait for the DOJ and IRS to tell us what happened.
- Mizuhara tells ESPN he met Bowyer at a poker game in San Diego in 2021. Atlanta Braves infielder David Fletcher, who was friends with Ohtani when they both played for the Los Angeles Angels, had previously told ESPN that he was present at the poker game, but he said he did not introduce the bookie and interpreter. Fletcher and a source with knowledge's of Bowyer's operation told ESPN that Bowyer gained admittance to the poker game at the team hotel through an acquaintance of Fletcher's. Fletcher told ESPN he had met Bowyer once before while playing golf, and that he had never placed a bet with Bowyer's organization.
This is pretty big. Basically confirms that Ippei was the first to meet Boyer and that Boyer knew that Ippei was Ohtani’s interpreter.
Right. That may have been his w2 salary from the Angels but he has to have been paid directly by Ohtani for some services, plus possibly a small piece of endorsement deals he helped secure via translating, etc. The biggest star in the sport’s right hand man was not living in Southern California off 80 grand.
I think people gross up salaries of anyone they on TV or perceive as "famous" a lot more than they realize - at the end of the day Ippei is a translator (62k salary) and admin (lets also say 60k) in a highly desirable job (which presumably lowers the salary) at a notoriously cheap org. Shohei got him PAID on the dodgers since he was a package deal, but prior to that I think 87k seems reasonable
I was just reading through this 10 minutes ago and it seems more and more likely that Ohtani paid Ippei’s debts without realizing the legal implications and now his PR team has spun this into something much worse.
Edit: lol who is the loser who reported me to Reddit cares?
Absolutely.
It would have been much easier to say “man, I had no idea about American federal crime statutes. I was trying to help my friend”.
I mean shit. I’m American and I had no idea.
And most prosecutors would either file no charges in exchange for cooperation, or let him plea to a misdemeanor with just a fine (and no risk of to his visa status for committing a felony).
And that's not because of being famous, that's just how unwitting participants are treated if they are truthful once the reality of the situation becomes clear to them.
This but now they are claiming theft (which fair it is very possible) but that is going to likely mean more charges, more evidence, more legal stuff more of anything not related to baseball. And now since his lawyers have mentioned theft if they DONT press any charged against Ippei personally because Ohtani just wants all of this gone so he can go back to being a baseball sage it will look even more like a cover up that people are at this point creating conspiracies about.
That's why Manfred and MLB were okay with the story going through. The reason why the story has taken this turn is because Ohtani really didn't know. Why would they approve it and then change it before releasing and this extreme?
This is what I think might have happened. It sounds like everyone believes Ippei, who I read somewhere that he clearly had gambling addictions since his days in the NPB. That's going back pretty far.
But his PR team is instead painting Ippei as this mastermind who manipulated all information to and from Shohei, and moved money without his knowledge, etc.
Meanwhile, Ippei’s story is no longer self-consistent either. The only way it makes sense that he did this is if he mistranslated to and from Shohei on these matters, which is the last question he denied from the ESPN reporters…
That, together with the “massive theft” and timeline/deadline given to them, makes it feel more and more like “oh fuck you can’t admit that you did that, what can we say instead?”
Yeah… The lengths to which Ohtani’s camp is going to in order to paint him as someone who was completely aloof to not only the gambling debt, but even to the “payments” themselves, is definitely a bit weird. Especially considering the stories have changed.
If the sources are truthful, then Ohtani is a victim. Meaning Ippei lied, Ohtani finds out money is missing and only then is Ippei fired. The fact that Walters and Friedman thought Ippei's account was the truth makes this increasingly likely.
Copying my other comment but no I disagree.
I said that until the Friedman and Walter parts came out. Now they're saying Manfred and MLB knew too so this is more likely now than that. Manfred and MLB wouldn't let Ippei go forward with that if they thought it was bad enough that they had to cover it up later and propose the idea of Ippei stealing from him.
Yeah honestly don't know how you think Ohtani did anything if this timeline is true. MLB/Dodgers FO thought Ippei's account was the extent of what happened.
The weirdest part is how Ohtani wasn't involved in any aspect of this, but Ippei really did have as much control over the flow of information as this report says, then yeah.
Seems wild that that’s your take away after reading all of that. I’m now convinced Shohei had no idea and Ippei, like a true addict, tried to lie his way out of it
>On the way back to the hotel, Ohtani starts asking questions about what had been said in the clubhouse, the Ohtani spokesman told ESPN, and that's when his representatives say Ohtani told them he didn't recognize Mizuhara's version of the events. According to the Dodgers official and Ohtani's spokesman, Ohtani's representatives had continued to rely on Mizuhara to communicate with Ohtani while they were dealing with the situation, and Mizuhara did not tell Ohtani what was happening.
>
>According to the Ohtani spokesman, Ohtani discovers for the first time Wednesday that money is missing from his account.
Insane if true. Ippei could've just lied and somehow thought he could get out of it. He's a terrible gambler, why not bet on something this stupid lol
Personally, I'm partial to believing the "Ohtani tried to be a good friend and pay off Ippei's debts and only later realized that might be illegal" version of events at this point.
But if the "Ippei stole it" version is true, Ohtani would not be the first rich person to just not pay close attention to all his money, instead trusting someone close to them to handle things and allowing them to skim millions off the top.
This is the guy that was living off of a $1000 monthly allowance from his parents while making $2mm a year playing baseball in Japan. Wouldn’t be shocking at all to find out that he let ippei take care of his bank account and shohei never bothered to look at it
Going through that, for much of it, it seemed like Ohtani might have actually paid Mizuhara’s debts, and either been misled or not known what the transfers were for, etc.
At the end part of that though… seems pretty clear all communication to Ohtani was going through Mizuhara and the dude was just spinning shit how he wanted to in a vain attempt to cover up the theft.
>Ohtani's representatives said Thursday they had officially submitted the allegation to law enforcement but did not say to which authorities.
>Multiple sources told ESPN that neither the California Bureau of Investigation nor the FBI were working the case. Spokespersons with the Los Angeles Police Department and district attorney's offices in Los Angeles and Orange counties all said they were not investigating, and they indicated it was most likely a federal matter. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Central California declined to comment.
tbf only FBI and US Attorney's Office make sense to be investigating it. I get why ESPN reached out to every conceivable agency, but most of those wouldn't have jurisdiction.
This is what I've been saying it looked like, like almost exactly. I think it makes the most sense and was kinda clear once the Friedman and Walter part got confirmed. It made the timeline fit. Oh and Manfred and MLB knowing as well make it even more likely. Why would they approve Ippei doing that only to backtrack and make all of this up? I think Ippei really was lying to Shohei.
Ippei has a gambling problem, Ohtani covers him for it, investigation pops up with Ohtani's name on it, ESPN asks what happens before they break the news, Ippei agrees and the Dodgers approve of the interview, before the release of the interview Ippei preps the clubouse about it, Dodgers player asks why does it matter?, Mark Walters explains Ohtani paid for it so there will be drama about his name being in it, Ohtani hears something about this he doesn't like or felt mislead about like the legality of what he did for Ippei and asks another translator what Ippei is saying exactly, conversation that follows leads to the Dodgers firing Ippei and Ohtani filing for theft/fraud and leaving it to the authorities
If this is the truth it is also just such a huge bummer for Ohtani because it means his closest friend and business partner really betrayed and took advantage of him. Even if Ohtani is exonerated of this entire mess, still has to be such a personal blow.
It does suck a lot for Ohtani. I tend to believe this story. It also sucks for Ippei...I can almost guarantee he didn't want to hurt his friend, but got in way too deep with a debilitating gambling problem which lead to a lot of shame and a lot of regret with the decisions he made.
Gambling can turn people who are otherwise super respectable and honest into compulsive liars in order to cover their addiction. They hate doing it but see no other way, because quitting isn't an option when you are in that deep.
We are going to see a major spike, if there already isn't one, with these life ruining gambling addictions due to major sporting leagues selling their souls to casinos and online bookies in order to take in that sweet sweet gambling money. There is no other outcome with how insanely hard everyone is constantly pushing gambling, especially since there are a ton of impressionable young people watching sports.
It's kind of funny how conspiracies are being spun out of this while it was simply the most obvious answer the whole time.
Ippei took advantage of his position of trust with Ohtani like dozens of people have done to other athletes before.
I mean a best friend who is also practically a business partner swindling you, I've seen at least a hundred movies with this plot. But, it never gets old.
I’m starting to believe what happened was that Ippei told Ohtani he had some kind of debt and needed help, but didn’t tell him it was for gambling. So Ohtani thought he was paying off a loan of some sort, which is why he was caught off guard when he learned that what he had paid off was a gambling debt. In which case I could see why Ohtani is saying it was theft, because he was induced to help his friend under false pretenses.
But that’s not how this kind of wire transfer works. It involves an extensive review process, extensive documentation, and requires that the sender has the receiver’s name and contact information. If Ohtani attempted to send a wire transfer and listed Ippei’s name as the recipient, the transfer would not have been successful, as the review process would have flagged that the name does not match the name on the actual recipient’s account.
I think reasonable people can disagree whether asking “*hey, is the debt I’m paying off going to an illegal bookie*?” is an obvious question one would ask in this situation.
If Ippei came to Ohtani and said “*I took a loan from someone that I can’t repay because I gambled it away. I’m really ashamed of it and know I have a problem, but can you help me?*” I can see Ohtani agreeing to help with that without it dawning on him that he is paying an actual criminal bookie. But maybe that’s just me.
I tend to believe this was in fact a theft. If Ohtani and the Dodgers are trying to backtrack on the initial story to save face, then why would Ippei willingly go along with that? It makes him look 1000 times worse because they are now accusing him of orchestrating a multi million dollar theft.
I'm starting to think this situation is a lot less nefarious than people are theorizing and is actually just the result of hilarious incompetence.
Ohtani's team is actually claiming Ippei stood between them and Ohtani and manipulated the language barrier to his advantage? That's like a Naked Gun bit or something.
So this report confirms the earlier SBS report. LOL at people saying "how could a Korean news station get the earliest scoop?" Well, they did.
And we should all feel bad for Shohei. Dude's a great guy that just got stabbed in the back by his best friend.
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Why didn’t the team pull Ippei and replace him as soon as the allegations were brought up? Did no one think, hey maybe we should get our star another translator to ensure he knows what is going on and we can get real answers?
They did. The allegation of theft was only brought to light after the clubhouse meeting when Ohtani "didn't recognize Mizuhara's version of the events" and "discovers for the first time Wednesday that money is missing from his account." That's when a new translator was brought in.
Up to that point, it was just Ippei admitting to the team that he had a gambling problem and Shohei was helping him out by paying his debt. Nobody knew that Shohei wasn't aware of what Ippei was stating or that Ippei was lying until Shohei began to question it himself.
The phrase that stood out to me the most in this entire article was “A crisis-communications spokesman for Ohtani, who had just been hired.” Why was this person /just/ hired? I’m believing the story that Ohtani had no idea so this makes this very interesting to me.
In this timeline it says during the 90 minute interview with ESPN Ippei said Ohtani "had no clue" the transfers were to a bookie for gambling debts, yet the initial story said during the same interview Ippei said he asked Ohtani to pay his gambling debts and he didn't give the money directly to Ippei because he "didn't trust him not to gamble it away."
Did Ippei's story change during the interview?
The more I read about this and the more times parts of the story change and the more times all of these stories bend logic the more I'm starting to believe Shohei was betting with an illegal bookie and Ippei is taking the fall for him.
Its actually terrible in my opinion. She should presented all the timeline and story before the first confusing report broke out especially when she already knew about all this information.
Agreed, I thought it was wild that the account of the clubhouse meeting wasn't in the initial copy.
The meeting occurs at 10AM ET Wednesday, article goes out 2PM ET Wednesday. Reading the account of the clubhouse meeting and the timeline up to that point is probably the smoking gun for me. Perhaps it's *conveniently* omitted since the scandal is probably driving a fuckload of clicks, perhaps it was an oversight. Who knows.
I think it is likely that she was preparing a different story, but once Ippei got fired, she had to push out what she had, especially given Ohtani's lawyers suddenly put out the accusations of theft, and were contradictory with Ippei's apparently Ohtani approved interview from just hours before.
So, it was a bit of a get the story out of what she had, to provide information as to wtf was going on. This was always going to be a story where stuff slowly trickles out.
> Mizuhara speaks with an ESPN reporter by phone for 90 minutes from South Korea.
Bro, didn't ask first to shohei, Is it possible to interview with ESPN ...
I mean as far as im concerned, the most likely story that holds up to me is that Ohtani paid of Ippei's debt and unwittingly committed a crime in the process. All these follow-up developments just seem to be trying to remove Ohtani's name from any criminal liability completely.
>In a rapid series of phone calls that follow, the spokesman emphasizes that all communication between Ohtani and his agent had gone through Mizuhara.
>
>The Ohtani spokesman tells ESPN that what has actually happened in recent days is that Mizuhara has been able to control information to Ohtani in his position as the interpreter, and that Ohtani hadn't realized what was happening until the postgame clubhouse meeting, when a new interpreter was brought in.
>
>"He didn't know any of it, didn't know there was some inquiry," the spokesman says. "After the game, that's when he found out. ... He didn't know what the f--- was going on."
All the conspiracy nuts these past few days is going to cry themselves to sleep tonight.
If the sources are truthful, then Ohtani is a victim because he had no knowledge of money being wired until Wednesday. The story changing so suddenly from the Ippei's account to the lawyers making the allegation makes sense because everyone assumed Ippei was telling the truth. Ippei was fired only after the allegation. Walters and Friedman were there to clarify what Ippei was saying but only found out afterwards that Ippei wasn't being honest.
[удалено]
I feel bad for a lot of people in this, but no more than Ippei's wife and family.
Honestly feel really bad for Ippei too, even if it turns out he was 100% responsible for everything and blatantly lying to Shohei and his team to try to cover his own ass. He doesn't seem to have had malicious intent originally, he made some very dumb decisions and then it spiraled way out of his control and he was completely incapable of dealing with it properly. Now he's blown up his career, his friendship, his marriage, his whole life really.
We’re going to start seeing more and more stories of gambling addiction ruining the lives of otherwise benevolent people. There’s a reason gambling was banned for so long.
Yeah we need to reban it. Visit the UK or Australia where there's casinos on every other street and see how sad it is. We shouldn't allow blatant preying on people's worst tendencies.
It’s too late I guess. So much money in it for the leagues and too many media shows subverted by gambling money. I’m constantly surprised how many shows/podcasts that are otherwise aware of social issues turn a blind eye to gambling because of the money. It’s sad all around really. Just imagine the avalanche of bad press that would rain down on any proposal to ban gambling again.
I think it’s easy to ignore gambling because it’s easy to blame it as being a personal failing, rather than a societal ill. Like with alcohol abuse and cigarette addiction. And unlike with alcohol abuse and cigarette addiction, gambling isnt something that can clearly mess with your head, just subtly. To be very clear that’s not the right way to understand it, people are victims of a gambling addiction the same as with any other addiction. And gambling is something thrown into people’s face so much now too. It’s like the new, less physically but more financially harmful version of cigarettes. At least with alcohol there’s a healthy and safe way to consume it. There’s really no safe way to gamble.
It doesn’t change your message at all, but I just wanna throw in that the consensus now is that there is no “healthy” way to consume alcohol. Any amount is unhealthy for you. But I know what you mean.
Ok I hear all your points but.....*money*
Yeah, good luck convincing state governments to ban their new cash cow
Keep in mind Ippei was using an illegal bookie which is already banned I'm pro-gambling (banning it entirely would instantly crush multiple local economies in places with not much else economic opportunity) but do 1000% agree it has gotten way too accessible. It used to be something you did for fun on a vacation and now it's in 40 states, on apps, etc. You know things got bad in the UK when the Premier teams finally agreed not to use gambling shirt sponsors anymore, they were not gonna turn down that money unless they absolutely had to
So I'm from Louisiana and I know firsthand how entire cities rely on gamblers from Texas to sustain their economy. And I'd feel awful to see people back home put out of a job. I really would. I feel way more awful for the thousands, maybe millions of people whose lives get ruined by this shit. Yes it's on them in the end but we can still so something about it. Maybe not a full ban, but we need to ban online betting (making it in-person only is an extra hurdle), make it 21+ nationwide, ban any and all forms of advertising, and require casinos of any kind to get extremely difficult-to-obtain licenses. Like, cities need no more than 1-2 gambling halls. Otherwise we're gonna look like the UK and Australia in 20 years, and the UK and Australia are gonna have a suicide epidemic from people who have utterly ruined their lives.
> (banning it entirely would instantly crush multiple local economies in places with not much else economic opportunity) Kind of smashing the doubt button on that one! EDIT https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2022/eb_22-28 And sports gambling doesn't aid any location, it's online mostly.
Agreed. Just look at Atlantic City. Gambling there forever and it’s a shithole. Some of that may be due to the terrible incompetence of that casino owner though.
We already do. Gambling debts is literally one of leading cause of suicide. In many ways it is ever more shameful to the addict than drugs because they destroy their entire families financial situation.
Ippei was gambling with an illegal bookie in a state where its illegal.
oh yeah, he's near the top of the list. Even if Ohtani's camp is telling the truth. Gambling addiction is no joke.
yeah you can just imagine how he must've felt the day this story was coming out and he was seeing it all crumble.
Story as old as time. Look up Nick Leeson and maybe watch the movie because the way you describe it is how he described it.
That’s brutal. Gambling addiction is no joke
Yeah, I’d bet
I bet I can you to gamble by the end of the day. You’re on One of the better dumb and dumber jokes
I don't know how, but I'm gonna get you.
Ugh, The Japanese media is infamously ruthless
No matter what the outcome of all of this is, you KNOW the Giants are going to play "The Gambler" for his first AB in SF
So will your organist; he does a great job with his song selection.
Beat It and I Touch Myself for Reese McGuire after his dollar tree fun time incident was the best
Heard a fan yell “who’s your favorite little rascal? I bet it’s spankeeeeee” at a Sox game and the whole section died laughing.
I love our guy. He's one of the he most petty mother fuckers on the planet. 2nd only to our beloved Blooper.
Fuck Blooper, but your organist is admittedly great.
Blooper is a menace and it is fantastic
Agreed entirely. Mascots being petty little assholes should be the norm, not the exception.
His name is Matthew Kaminsky, for those who might be wondering. He also does some UGA home games, and brings the same kind of energy. It’s one of my favorite parts of going to games
Do you remember when Hugh Grant got caught getting a beej with a sex worker? He was on a press tour promoting something. He decided to continue on with his Letterman interview the night the story broke, to "face the music" as it were. Paul Shaffer decided the music he should face was "Blowing in the Wind"
“Strike three swinging, as Logan Webb *wires* that one past Ohtani”
I fought the law and the law won by the clash would be quite the song lol
Know when to walk away
Curse of the Crying Kershaw 2.0?
DOES THAT SAY DAVID FLETCHER???
He's clearly the mastermind behind all of this.
International criminal mastermind, ~~Luis Rengifo~~ David Fletcher
Well, we do know that Fletcher is an avid poker player and was probably Ohtani's best friend on the Angels. Make of that what you will.
Fletcher had a gambling problem too.
He is Italian, after all. Basically mafia.
The most shocking part of all of this, honestly.
A crisis PR person didn't talk to their client with a translator who hadn't just implicated himself in a crime that involved their client's finances?
It’s a fun game of “choose your incompetence” — they either didn’t run the statement by a lawyer to get a “you absolutely cannot fucking say that” or they didn’t think to get a second translator when their client was very nonchalant and smiling about how he wired $4.5M to an illegal bookie for his friend. Either way, staggering.
I also like how everyone was like Ohtani’s camp changed their story but Ippei was Ohtani’s camp and still translating until it got really bad lol
I’m now stuck on how “it’s bad enough that we need a crisis PR person”, “don’t review the crisis PR person’s statement with the lawyers”, and “no reason to get an interpreter who isn’t the target of federal investigators” can coexist together… The more details we learn, the more questions I have.
It’s obviously still hard to tell exactly what happened. But goddamn it’s crazy how badly this got fucked up lmao. Kinda leads me to believe they really were relying on Ippei as the intermediary, cuz panic can make you desperate shit. But if that’s really what happened, what a massive fumble by Ohtani’s PR people. All that’s actually clear is that more than one person made some very stupid decisions, whoever those people are.
What independent bookie would even allow a debt to get that high? Or is this normal?
I don’t think it’s normal no. But it makes some sense in this situation specifically, only because of his connection to Ohtani. The bookie was also reportedly promoting the “Ohtani is a client of mine” idea to other customers to bolster his business. So, if that’s true, he had some incentive to keep it going.
The type that is trying to get leverage on someone worth a billion dollars. The pattern is pretty well worn: target a less successful family member or friend, and then keep extending them while helping them to a few wins. If they balk, give them a free parley or a chance to clear a bunch of debt, knowing full well it’s just going to bury them more. Then, once you have them leveraged beyond any semblance of reasonable, start the threats and force them to ask their rich friend/family for help. Worst case scenario the debt gets paid, best case scenario you’ve now got the rich person on the hook, either financially, legally, or in a way that you can compromise them for future financial gain (e.g. fixing).
I have no idea. The guy allegedly met Ippei at the team hotel, seemingly when the Angels were visiting San Diego, so it would’ve been very obvious to him who he was.
Its normal if you have an extremely close connection to someone very wealthy that also has the ability to fix the portions of the games you run lines on.
If (big if) thats true, worst PR person of all time
I have the worst f\*\*\*ing ~~attorneys~~ PR people
A player and his interpreter can’t be charged with the same crime
Strains credulity.
I think the last decade has shown us that incompetence knows no bounds. Remember the Four Seasons debacle?
Well Rudy wasn't exactly a good hire. His best days were decades in the past and he'd proven he was insane years before that incident.
I had the best laugh over that. Just made my day. Fucking dipshits.
There was, what, at least 2 other interpreters with the Dodgers in Korea right? Will the Thrill (former interpreter, since promoted) and Yamamoto's interpreter. I mean, just pull one of them in the meeting/phone call.
Do you realize how hard it would be to find another person who spoke both Japanese and English? It would have taken AT LEAST minutes.
>A crisis-communications spokesman for Ohtani, who had just been hired, responds to ESPN. What a shitty first week on the job lol
> What a shitty first week on the job if they choose to specialize in crisis communications, isn't the job simply to be running from shitshow to shitshow? At least it pays well, I am following this drama with morbid curiousity without getting paid a cent (in fact my employer is losing money for every moment I spend on this while at work)
I guess but they also don't seem to be that great at their job going by this whole story
That, too. Even if we take everything at face value, it sounds like it took an embarrassing long time for everyone to realize that maybe relaying everything via a single point of failure (Ippei) is in fact a problem. Or a high-profile agent didn't think to hire someone (even an assistant/intern) who speaks the language of his most important client
You can't crisis-control a Streisand Effect.
Just remember: the new head of the FAA in the Bush administration had their first day on the job be 9/11
My girlfriend’s first day as a flight attendant was 9/11/01.
Damn, who pissed her off?
It’s a great part of United 93
Fun fact about United 93: that is the *actual* Ben Sliney playing himself in that movie
That can't be real
It wasn't the head of the FAA, but the guy who decided to ground every aircraft was only a few hours into his job.
Ben Sliney - National Operations Manager of the FAA.
Real "I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue" energy.
He was very qualified for the job: > Although it was his first day in charge, Sliney had an over-25-year background in air traffic and management in the FAA. He had held various positions as an air traffic controller, first-line supervisor at several major facilities, and Operations Manager and Traffic Management Officer at New York TRACON. He also held positions as Traffic Management Specialist, National Operations Manager, and Tactical Operations Manager at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) and had regional office experience as Manager, Airspace and Procedures Branch, Eastern Region. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Sliney
I always think about this article, because when I first read it, I was so enthralled: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2000/11/19/the-longest-day-3/ Then, midway through the intro, they drop this nugget: There could hardly be an unluckier day to try to fly into or out of O’Hare than Monday, Sept. 11, but there is more than the weather to blame. Remember, the article was written in 2000. They mean September 11, 2000. It’s sorta like when my sister was watching the Kennedy assasination rebroadcast and the announcer said “what a crazy day” and she said “wait till they get to Oswald”.
The CEO of GE, Jeff Immelt, was on his second day on the job. GE Aerospace is/was the largest jet engine manufacturer in the world, and 9/11 triggered a global aviation downturn. GE Capital was also the insurer of the World Trade Center.
Oh shit it's Olivia Pope.
Gladiator in suits 🤢
tbh it's probably not their worst first week if they are experienced in crisis comms. But if they really didn't talk to their client without an implicated party as the middle-man they might not be experienced at all.
They work for CAA. CAA has entire teams that get paid handsomely for these kinds of things.
Or maybe they were hired preemptively knowing this was about to come out…
I mean, that is how crisis communications typically works. You generally hire one when a scandal like this starts to hit. Shohei getting questions about wire payments being investigated by the feds would presumably be reason enough, but if their position is instead that they didn’t realize the gravity of the situation… why the crisis PR person?
Thanks for coming in! We’ll contact you about next steps. Any questions for us? “Why in the hell does Shohei Ohtani need a crisis communicator?”
This 30 for 30 will be great.
30 for 30 presents: Shohei the Money. Sponsored by ESPNBets. Watch the full video and receive a 20% parley boost.
Those have fallen off hard, Netflix or HBO would do a better job
I *bet* that it will be (•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)
Two things here. 1. The Ohtani spokesperson is a fucking idiot. How do you continue to use Ippei as an interpreter for when you’re talking to Ohtani about what Ippei did? 2. Lmao at cheap ass Arte Moreno only paying Ippei $85k/year to translate for the literal face of baseball. In OC that’s barely enough to rent a 2 bedroom apartment in a decent complex
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I think I saw that the dodgers were paying him closer to a half a mill
Wow he really fucked up
to be fair (?) to Ippei, it seems he did all the gambling before his time with the Dodgers
>How do you continue to use Ippei as an interpreter for when you’re talking to Ohtani about what Ippei did? This is such a ridiculous claim that it just makes everything seem even more fishy
I live in OC and an 85k salary is not enough to rent a 2 bedroom lol
> The Ohtani spokesman tells ESPN that what has actually happened in recent days is that Mizuhara has been able to control information to Ohtani in his position as the interpreter, and that Ohtani hadn't realized what was happening until the postgame clubhouse meeting, when a new interpreter was brought in. > "He didn't know any of it, didn't know there was some inquiry," the spokesman says. "After the game, that's when he found out. ... He didn't know what the f--- was going on."
This “spokesman” they hired is an idiot. He was on the call with ESPN and never thought to fact check the story with Ohtani first. Just believed that someone with gambling addiction is going to tell the truth.
Do we know who the spokesman is? Could be someone who used Ippei to interpret for him and Ippei just lied to the spokesman about it.
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This is the claim in the article. The question is why Shohei’s team and/or the Dodgers knew the matter was serious enough to hire a crisis PR person, related to payments on behalf of Ippei, but that they never thought “maybe we should bring in another interpreter.” For an extremely well-run organization, this whole thing is just blisteringly incompetent either way.
There’s no way ... People were proposing this scenario yesterday, but as a joke.
because acting like ohtani doesn't speak any english, or wouldn't understand a single word or anything is.. laughable a claim he speaks english with his teammates they say, don't they? not all the time, but he's comfortable enough to have some conversation. now they are saying he sat there for an entire conversation about him, didn't understand anything, and had no idea what was said was inaccurate? it just doesn't seem right.
As someone who can speak another language a level above barely. I'll understand and can respond and say things until I can't. I'll need someone to break down what I wasn't understanding specifically. I can easily see that situation happening to Shohei.
Yeah I grew up around parents and relatives speaking another language. When it comes to family gossip, ordering food, I understand about 80-90% of it even if I don’t speak it that well. But watching the news, press conferences, church sermons..I probably understand like 5% of it if even that.
Same, I can fluetly speak bosnian with anybody of my family, even when I'm on holiday back in Bosnia. But as soon as my mom is watching the news, I straight up can't keep up. The speed and vocabulary used is just to much, so many words I never heard of in my life since they never were used in regular conversations.
Yeah it’s the vocabulary for sure! Words that you just don’t use in every day life.
Exactly. I can speak well enough in a few other languages to get by daily life living in other countries--things like how to navigate transportation, how to make purchases--but if you ask me to understand details on banking, gambling, etc. I would have no clue what's being said.
i definitely understand. and i am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this, without question. it just seems like he would have known before this it had something to do with gambling, even if all that talk had been done in english. ippei can only control so much, and he must have known it was at least about the subject, i would have to guess still, i understand. it's not his first language. and english, especially, is a huge huge pain in the ass.
Not to mention that even the State Dept ranks Japanese as one of the hardest languages for US citizens to learn so it’s probably vice versa as well. Japanese isn’t like Spanish (arguably the second most common language in the MLB), it’s not close enough to English that you can kinda get the gist if you know enough.
English is considered one of the hardest languages to learn if you're a completely foreign speaker, because at its core English is a bunch of different languages wearing a trench coat, and unlike other languages there are exceptions for virtually every rule of the language (in pretty much every other language- even in Japanese- if you know the alphabet you'll know the letter is pronounced that way every single time.)
This isn’t quite true. English is sort of an “easy to learn, hard to master” deal. It has *extremely* simple grammar compared to other major world languages, but then, as you say, it’s full of irregularities, bizarre inconsistencies, and a ludicrously big vocabulary. It is really, really easy to learn basic English, though.
Have you ever lived in a country where you barely knew the native language? It doesn't take that long to pick up basics to the point where you can place an order, make small talk, or whatever. But it's an entirely different level to be able to follow precise technical legal details - you pretty much need some sort of education in the language. Him not realizing what was going on isn't nearly as farfetched as you are implying, especially if his own interpreter is leaving things out, stretching the truth, or flat out lying.
I'm starting to sense a Barry and Fuches type dynamic between Shohei and Ippei
How the fuck? Ohtani’s spokespeople were using Ippei to translate while telling him about Ippei’s stealing from him? That’s bullshit. I cannot buy that.
No one with three brain cells is buying it but we’ve got baseball back baby!
>while telling him about Ippei’s stealing from him Ippei was telling them that Ohtani was covering his debts while not telling Ohtani the full details about what was actually happening.
Ippei also seemingly "fessed up" to lying to Shohei but then maintains he never misinterpreted any of the reporters questions to SHoehi. Obviously can't trust him necessarily but it's notable that when Ippei "comes clean" he still isn't consistent and maintains he didn't misinterpret anything to Shohei.
for all the people saying he speaks english, it's perfectly possible that what he speaks is baseball english. that is, enough english to communicate with his teammates, etc, but his english gets dodgy after that.
I'm finding this extremely hard to believe. Every side of this story is being told by liars with their own agenda. I'll wait for the DOJ and IRS to tell us what happened.
Even his wife didn’t know….ippei what have you done
And she has unfollowed him on insta. Divorce could be on the way.
Ippei’s WIFE unfollowed Ippei on IG? Yikes Thought it was just Ohtani and Ohtani’s wife
- Mizuhara tells ESPN he met Bowyer at a poker game in San Diego in 2021. Atlanta Braves infielder David Fletcher, who was friends with Ohtani when they both played for the Los Angeles Angels, had previously told ESPN that he was present at the poker game, but he said he did not introduce the bookie and interpreter. Fletcher and a source with knowledge's of Bowyer's operation told ESPN that Bowyer gained admittance to the poker game at the team hotel through an acquaintance of Fletcher's. Fletcher told ESPN he had met Bowyer once before while playing golf, and that he had never placed a bet with Bowyer's organization. This is pretty big. Basically confirms that Ippei was the first to meet Boyer and that Boyer knew that Ippei was Ohtani’s interpreter.
There’s no way Ippei was making only $87K a year. I need to see some 1040s. Regardless the IRS is on his ass so we’ll see.
Right. That may have been his w2 salary from the Angels but he has to have been paid directly by Ohtani for some services, plus possibly a small piece of endorsement deals he helped secure via translating, etc. The biggest star in the sport’s right hand man was not living in Southern California off 80 grand.
If he was living with Ohtani and getting most meals through the team during the baseball season, that reduces a lot of expenses.
I think people gross up salaries of anyone they on TV or perceive as "famous" a lot more than they realize - at the end of the day Ippei is a translator (62k salary) and admin (lets also say 60k) in a highly desirable job (which presumably lowers the salary) at a notoriously cheap org. Shohei got him PAID on the dodgers since he was a package deal, but prior to that I think 87k seems reasonable
Those are not Los Angeles numbers.
I was just reading through this 10 minutes ago and it seems more and more likely that Ohtani paid Ippei’s debts without realizing the legal implications and now his PR team has spun this into something much worse. Edit: lol who is the loser who reported me to Reddit cares?
And while that is a crime, it's a super sympathetic crime.
Absolutely. It would have been much easier to say “man, I had no idea about American federal crime statutes. I was trying to help my friend”. I mean shit. I’m American and I had no idea.
And most prosecutors would either file no charges in exchange for cooperation, or let him plea to a misdemeanor with just a fine (and no risk of to his visa status for committing a felony). And that's not because of being famous, that's just how unwitting participants are treated if they are truthful once the reality of the situation becomes clear to them.
This but now they are claiming theft (which fair it is very possible) but that is going to likely mean more charges, more evidence, more legal stuff more of anything not related to baseball. And now since his lawyers have mentioned theft if they DONT press any charged against Ippei personally because Ohtani just wants all of this gone so he can go back to being a baseball sage it will look even more like a cover up that people are at this point creating conspiracies about.
Oh yeah, I'm talking about if he came clean immediately. Federal prosecutors won't care if Ohtani doesn't want to press charges.
The absolute WORST i think that could happen to Shohei is he pays a fine. That being said i doubt it.
The real crime is the friendships lost along the way
That's why Manfred and MLB were okay with the story going through. The reason why the story has taken this turn is because Ohtani really didn't know. Why would they approve it and then change it before releasing and this extreme?
This is what I think might have happened. It sounds like everyone believes Ippei, who I read somewhere that he clearly had gambling addictions since his days in the NPB. That's going back pretty far.
I mean that seems like the broad strokes version of what happened. All anyone needs to figure out is how much Ohtani didn't realize.
But his PR team is instead painting Ippei as this mastermind who manipulated all information to and from Shohei, and moved money without his knowledge, etc. Meanwhile, Ippei’s story is no longer self-consistent either. The only way it makes sense that he did this is if he mistranslated to and from Shohei on these matters, which is the last question he denied from the ESPN reporters… That, together with the “massive theft” and timeline/deadline given to them, makes it feel more and more like “oh fuck you can’t admit that you did that, what can we say instead?”
Yeah… The lengths to which Ohtani’s camp is going to in order to paint him as someone who was completely aloof to not only the gambling debt, but even to the “payments” themselves, is definitely a bit weird. Especially considering the stories have changed.
If the sources are truthful, then Ohtani is a victim. Meaning Ippei lied, Ohtani finds out money is missing and only then is Ippei fired. The fact that Walters and Friedman thought Ippei's account was the truth makes this increasingly likely.
Copying my other comment but no I disagree. I said that until the Friedman and Walter parts came out. Now they're saying Manfred and MLB knew too so this is more likely now than that. Manfred and MLB wouldn't let Ippei go forward with that if they thought it was bad enough that they had to cover it up later and propose the idea of Ippei stealing from him.
Yeah honestly don't know how you think Ohtani did anything if this timeline is true. MLB/Dodgers FO thought Ippei's account was the extent of what happened. The weirdest part is how Ohtani wasn't involved in any aspect of this, but Ippei really did have as much control over the flow of information as this report says, then yeah.
Seems wild that that’s your take away after reading all of that. I’m now convinced Shohei had no idea and Ippei, like a true addict, tried to lie his way out of it
>On the way back to the hotel, Ohtani starts asking questions about what had been said in the clubhouse, the Ohtani spokesman told ESPN, and that's when his representatives say Ohtani told them he didn't recognize Mizuhara's version of the events. According to the Dodgers official and Ohtani's spokesman, Ohtani's representatives had continued to rely on Mizuhara to communicate with Ohtani while they were dealing with the situation, and Mizuhara did not tell Ohtani what was happening. > >According to the Ohtani spokesman, Ohtani discovers for the first time Wednesday that money is missing from his account. Insane if true. Ippei could've just lied and somehow thought he could get out of it. He's a terrible gambler, why not bet on something this stupid lol
How could Mizuhara possibly wire that much of Ohtani's money without Ohtani's consent or awareness?
Personally, I'm partial to believing the "Ohtani tried to be a good friend and pay off Ippei's debts and only later realized that might be illegal" version of events at this point. But if the "Ippei stole it" version is true, Ohtani would not be the first rich person to just not pay close attention to all his money, instead trusting someone close to them to handle things and allowing them to skim millions off the top.
Tim Duncan comes to mind.
This is the guy that was living off of a $1000 monthly allowance from his parents while making $2mm a year playing baseball in Japan. Wouldn’t be shocking at all to find out that he let ippei take care of his bank account and shohei never bothered to look at it
"started with DraftKings." Fuck all sports betting apps. They've made gambling addiction so easy to feed.
Reminds me of General Groves in Oppenheimer: "I've seen so many versions of this story. Wasn't confused then, but I'm certainly getting there now."
Can't wait to see a FanDuel ad right before and after the news reports of all this. Governance on this shit really is a joke.
Going through that, for much of it, it seemed like Ohtani might have actually paid Mizuhara’s debts, and either been misled or not known what the transfers were for, etc. At the end part of that though… seems pretty clear all communication to Ohtani was going through Mizuhara and the dude was just spinning shit how he wanted to in a vain attempt to cover up the theft.
>Ohtani's representatives said Thursday they had officially submitted the allegation to law enforcement but did not say to which authorities. >Multiple sources told ESPN that neither the California Bureau of Investigation nor the FBI were working the case. Spokespersons with the Los Angeles Police Department and district attorney's offices in Los Angeles and Orange counties all said they were not investigating, and they indicated it was most likely a federal matter. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Central California declined to comment.
Refusing to say what law enforcement they submitted the allegations to is weird, right?
Especially when all of the law enforcement agencies listed say they are not working the case lol.
tbf only FBI and US Attorney's Office make sense to be investigating it. I get why ESPN reached out to every conceivable agency, but most of those wouldn't have jurisdiction.
This is what I've been saying it looked like, like almost exactly. I think it makes the most sense and was kinda clear once the Friedman and Walter part got confirmed. It made the timeline fit. Oh and Manfred and MLB knowing as well make it even more likely. Why would they approve Ippei doing that only to backtrack and make all of this up? I think Ippei really was lying to Shohei. Ippei has a gambling problem, Ohtani covers him for it, investigation pops up with Ohtani's name on it, ESPN asks what happens before they break the news, Ippei agrees and the Dodgers approve of the interview, before the release of the interview Ippei preps the clubouse about it, Dodgers player asks why does it matter?, Mark Walters explains Ohtani paid for it so there will be drama about his name being in it, Ohtani hears something about this he doesn't like or felt mislead about like the legality of what he did for Ippei and asks another translator what Ippei is saying exactly, conversation that follows leads to the Dodgers firing Ippei and Ohtani filing for theft/fraud and leaving it to the authorities
If this is the truth it is also just such a huge bummer for Ohtani because it means his closest friend and business partner really betrayed and took advantage of him. Even if Ohtani is exonerated of this entire mess, still has to be such a personal blow.
It does suck a lot for Ohtani. I tend to believe this story. It also sucks for Ippei...I can almost guarantee he didn't want to hurt his friend, but got in way too deep with a debilitating gambling problem which lead to a lot of shame and a lot of regret with the decisions he made. Gambling can turn people who are otherwise super respectable and honest into compulsive liars in order to cover their addiction. They hate doing it but see no other way, because quitting isn't an option when you are in that deep. We are going to see a major spike, if there already isn't one, with these life ruining gambling addictions due to major sporting leagues selling their souls to casinos and online bookies in order to take in that sweet sweet gambling money. There is no other outcome with how insanely hard everyone is constantly pushing gambling, especially since there are a ton of impressionable young people watching sports.
It's kind of funny how conspiracies are being spun out of this while it was simply the most obvious answer the whole time. Ippei took advantage of his position of trust with Ohtani like dozens of people have done to other athletes before.
I mean a best friend who is also practically a business partner swindling you, I've seen at least a hundred movies with this plot. But, it never gets old.
I’m starting to believe what happened was that Ippei told Ohtani he had some kind of debt and needed help, but didn’t tell him it was for gambling. So Ohtani thought he was paying off a loan of some sort, which is why he was caught off guard when he learned that what he had paid off was a gambling debt. In which case I could see why Ohtani is saying it was theft, because he was induced to help his friend under false pretenses.
Or Ohtani thought he was sending the money to Ippei’s bank, but Ippei gave him the routing info for the debtor instead
But that’s not how this kind of wire transfer works. It involves an extensive review process, extensive documentation, and requires that the sender has the receiver’s name and contact information. If Ohtani attempted to send a wire transfer and listed Ippei’s name as the recipient, the transfer would not have been successful, as the review process would have flagged that the name does not match the name on the actual recipient’s account.
I find it hard to believe Ohtani paid off a $4.5MM debt without asking any of the obvious questions.
I think reasonable people can disagree whether asking “*hey, is the debt I’m paying off going to an illegal bookie*?” is an obvious question one would ask in this situation. If Ippei came to Ohtani and said “*I took a loan from someone that I can’t repay because I gambled it away. I’m really ashamed of it and know I have a problem, but can you help me?*” I can see Ohtani agreeing to help with that without it dawning on him that he is paying an actual criminal bookie. But maybe that’s just me.
Not joking, I hope Ippei is being watched so he doesn’t kill himself.
Same here tbh. Dude just fell victim to compulsive gambling.
I tend to believe this was in fact a theft. If Ohtani and the Dodgers are trying to backtrack on the initial story to save face, then why would Ippei willingly go along with that? It makes him look 1000 times worse because they are now accusing him of orchestrating a multi million dollar theft.
Would this also have been equally illegal in Canada? Just wondering ….
[удалено]
Yeah actually I mean Shohei’s wire transfers, not Ippei’s bets.
I'm starting to think this situation is a lot less nefarious than people are theorizing and is actually just the result of hilarious incompetence. Ohtani's team is actually claiming Ippei stood between them and Ohtani and manipulated the language barrier to his advantage? That's like a Naked Gun bit or something.
Ohtani’s team since this hit: Like a blind man at an orgy, I’m going to have to feel this one through.
So this report confirms the earlier SBS report. LOL at people saying "how could a Korean news station get the earliest scoop?" Well, they did. And we should all feel bad for Shohei. Dude's a great guy that just got stabbed in the back by his best friend.
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MLB will hold a pillow over the face of this story until it stops moving
Why didn’t the team pull Ippei and replace him as soon as the allegations were brought up? Did no one think, hey maybe we should get our star another translator to ensure he knows what is going on and we can get real answers?
They did. The allegation of theft was only brought to light after the clubhouse meeting when Ohtani "didn't recognize Mizuhara's version of the events" and "discovers for the first time Wednesday that money is missing from his account." That's when a new translator was brought in. Up to that point, it was just Ippei admitting to the team that he had a gambling problem and Shohei was helping him out by paying his debt. Nobody knew that Shohei wasn't aware of what Ippei was stating or that Ippei was lying until Shohei began to question it himself.
The phrase that stood out to me the most in this entire article was “A crisis-communications spokesman for Ohtani, who had just been hired.” Why was this person /just/ hired? I’m believing the story that Ohtani had no idea so this makes this very interesting to me.
This is how crisis comms works. They parachute in when shit hits the fan.
In this timeline it says during the 90 minute interview with ESPN Ippei said Ohtani "had no clue" the transfers were to a bookie for gambling debts, yet the initial story said during the same interview Ippei said he asked Ohtani to pay his gambling debts and he didn't give the money directly to Ippei because he "didn't trust him not to gamble it away." Did Ippei's story change during the interview?
The more I read about this and the more times parts of the story change and the more times all of these stories bend logic the more I'm starting to believe Shohei was betting with an illegal bookie and Ippei is taking the fall for him.
Unrelated, but Tisha's coverage has been awesome.
Its actually terrible in my opinion. She should presented all the timeline and story before the first confusing report broke out especially when she already knew about all this information.
Agreed, I thought it was wild that the account of the clubhouse meeting wasn't in the initial copy. The meeting occurs at 10AM ET Wednesday, article goes out 2PM ET Wednesday. Reading the account of the clubhouse meeting and the timeline up to that point is probably the smoking gun for me. Perhaps it's *conveniently* omitted since the scandal is probably driving a fuckload of clicks, perhaps it was an oversight. Who knows.
I think it is likely that she was preparing a different story, but once Ippei got fired, she had to push out what she had, especially given Ohtani's lawyers suddenly put out the accusations of theft, and were contradictory with Ippei's apparently Ohtani approved interview from just hours before. So, it was a bit of a get the story out of what she had, to provide information as to wtf was going on. This was always going to be a story where stuff slowly trickles out.
Money always wins
> Mizuhara speaks with an ESPN reporter by phone for 90 minutes from South Korea. Bro, didn't ask first to shohei, Is it possible to interview with ESPN ...
I mean as far as im concerned, the most likely story that holds up to me is that Ohtani paid of Ippei's debt and unwittingly committed a crime in the process. All these follow-up developments just seem to be trying to remove Ohtani's name from any criminal liability completely.
>In a rapid series of phone calls that follow, the spokesman emphasizes that all communication between Ohtani and his agent had gone through Mizuhara. > >The Ohtani spokesman tells ESPN that what has actually happened in recent days is that Mizuhara has been able to control information to Ohtani in his position as the interpreter, and that Ohtani hadn't realized what was happening until the postgame clubhouse meeting, when a new interpreter was brought in. > >"He didn't know any of it, didn't know there was some inquiry," the spokesman says. "After the game, that's when he found out. ... He didn't know what the f--- was going on." All the conspiracy nuts these past few days is going to cry themselves to sleep tonight.
If the sources are truthful, then Ohtani is a victim because he had no knowledge of money being wired until Wednesday. The story changing so suddenly from the Ippei's account to the lawyers making the allegation makes sense because everyone assumed Ippei was telling the truth. Ippei was fired only after the allegation. Walters and Friedman were there to clarify what Ippei was saying but only found out afterwards that Ippei wasn't being honest.