SalmonsSuperfan wrote:Not sure where I'd post this because I don't think it deserves its own thread on a Bulls basketball forum, but who else is paying attention to this dealio with Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter? Ohtani's bank account transferred 4.5 million dollars to an illegal bookmaker, ostensibly to pay off the interpreter's debt. Common logic might think that Ohtani was just helping out his buddy, perhaps he was ignorant to the fact that gambling is still illegal in California. Ohtani's representatives have told conflicting stories; one said that he was just helping out his buddy while his lawyer says it was "massive theft." Ohtani better hope it's massive theft because he could be charged with a slurry of federal crimes, the IRS tends to frown upon illegal payments in the millions of dollars that don't get reported to them. that might constitute fraud.
Anyway, I think it's relevant to basketball fans because anyone with two brain cells can see the writing on the wall regarding this turn toward gambling. Maybe leagues will reassess their policies if the biggest star in sports goes down for it. Very unlikely, team owners are some of the greediest and most unethical people on the planet. Maybe we as citizens lobby our federal government to create laws to reign this in and make up for the idiocy of the Trump supreme court that made this decision.
OK, I'll play, because I've been thinking about it. Ohtani is saying he had nothing to do with it now, the guy just stole from him. I only see three options:
1) The interpreter guy was telling the truth in the first interview with ESPN, and Ohtani voluntarily paid all that money to satisfy his friend's debts (a very close friend, I would imagine, for that amount). This means everyone is lying now to keep Ohtani's relationship with the league and his fans intact, which is probably the worst thing they could do, and his friend is taking the fall for him, including a possible jail sentence. Almost all of Ohtani's salary is deferred, so 4.5 million is a lot to him, but he is also one of the most popular athletes in the world and likely makes so much off the field that he could float it easily.
2) They are both telling the truth now. Either the interpreter gambled with his own substantial salary, the numbers got bigger, and it spiraled out of control, or, he realized he had access to all Ohtani's money and thought - I bet I can break even and nobody will ever know. Either way, it means Ohtani had either given his friend access to his multimillion dollar bank account, which is odd, but not that totally crazy I guess if the guy was more like his assistant than an interpreter. Or, his friend hacked him, found his password, etc., and sent the bookie Ohtani's money to cover his debts, thinking he would somehow get away with it. I would think Ohtani would have to be completely out to lunch and have no financial team for this to happen, as well as there being what, 100 million in the account so it wasn't immediately obvious? It would also help camouflage it if Ohtani sends out huge, weird checks regularly, or had the interpreter do it. Or, maybe the interpreter was just desperate and delusional and did it even though there was no way he would get away with it, which, panicked people do things like that sometimes. But this guy has done at least two really nutty things if this is true.
3) Ohtani was betting on sports, and his friend is now taking the fall.
I guess I believe what they are saying now and it's #2, but then none of those seem totally right. If it is #2, it appears Ohtani had no idea this had happened until the Feds followed the breadcrumbs back from the bookie and wanted to talk to him. That, along with the fact that the interpreter only got fired a few days ago, makes me wonder if it was all very recent, but then it seems like quite a coincidence that the guy sends the money and the feds are randomly on the doorstep almost immediately, coming at it from the whole other direction, and the whole story takes place in a week or whatever.
If it is in fact #2, given the guy's actions, I'd think there had to be severe duress from the bookie on the interpreter and/or Ohtani that will probably come out, imo, if not outright blackmail, especially if the only time he ever stole his money was for this one gambling debt, and not for anything else. It seems like it would have to be an, uh, acute situation to drive him to that.
There's a lot that doesn't quite track for me. Like, the guy lied throughout a whole interview with ESPN. Why? Had the team concocted a whole story together that then immediately fell apart? Did he think he could just spin this whole tale and nobody from Ohtani's team would contradict him and everything would be fine? Did Ohtani's team really have no idea what he was going to say when they put him in front of ESPN? If he had stolen from them, why are they putting him out there? They hadn't even fired him yet. Why is that? They had to have asked him, "so, what about that 5 mill?" at that point. What had he told them that made them put him in front of a mic and not in jail? Was Ohtani considering keeping him on, even after he knew about the theft? And how did he get a $5 million credit line with a bookie? Is Ohtani's name in some box on a website or a piece of paper really enough, with no personal relationship?
I wonder if Ohtani is familiar with how American media, even in its current desiccated state, latches onto a juicy story.
Despite this long post, I haven't actually been following this all that closely, just thinking about it, so please correct me if I'm off base, so to speak.
