OT: Ohtani's Interpreter fired, used Ohtani's money to pay gambling debts.

[theforumblue]

that is craaazy. wow.

is he even gonna be able to go back to japan after doing that to Ohtani? his family gonna have to disown the guy at this point.

[JigenDaisuke]

In 7 years nobody but Ippei was accessing Ohtanis account? Isn’t there an agent or manager? That’s a crazy amount of trust for Ohtani to let him have. Well if that is the case then Ohtani didn’t care much about money then. And this was bound to happen if he was just giving someone else 100% control.

[Wayne Wu]

Apparently the feds have investigated and found Shohei was completely in the dark. Interesting

Completely in the dark about millions of his money being wired to some bookie?


Ohtani hit his first HR as a Dodger at Dodgers Stadium last week. Dodgers marketing people rushed out to the stands and surrounded a young couple who got the ball, which is estimated to be worth at least $100k.

They separated the couple from each other and then gaslit the young woman into giving up the ball for nothing but some memorabilia.

Ohtani claimed that he took pictures with the young couple for giving up the ball. In fact he did not go meet them and take photos with them, he lied about it so that the strong-arm tactics of getting the ball from young fans wouldn't look bad.

Ohtani lied about a minor incident. He can't be lying about something more serious like gambling, could he?

I am from Asia and I read quite a lot into this case.

Regarding the Dodgers marketing people part, almost all of fans from my country does not understand it and found it inappropriate, weird, rude, not make sense.

However, some fans also say it's kind like the SOP of MLB teams to separate the fan who get the important ball from his friends or family. Accordingly to the fan's experience(not LAD, but I forget the team, maybe SF, not sure), he got the homerun ball, but he’s from Asia and not a native speaker, so he requested his white friend’s accompany to negotiate/talk to the team, but the request was being rejected. The team only want to talk to HIM. The reason could be the team do not want too many voices to make things more complicated.

Anyway, I think a MLB team should handle it a lot better, at the end of the day, it is not that much of cost and fans are why the business even exist.

And regarding the Ohtani lied about took picture with the fan part, it’s actually the Japanese language issues. That’s actually the problem and difficulty when learning Japanese. Japanese language tend to omit subject(I, we, they). Even Japanese people being confused by the culture of the language in the day to day life. So they need to develop the ability to guess it, which we call it “read the air”.

Ohtani did say communicate with the fan, but he did not say HE communicate himself. And he did not say anything about take picture with the fan, so this part is just wrong. Using our common sense, why he would need to lie about take picture with the fan which can easily being caught?

Ohtani better start to speak English with media to avoid this kind of misunderstanding, he is in USA for more than 7 years. Japanese player just refuse to do so. Giannis can, Jokic can, Yao Ming can, why Ohtani can not? Rui Hachimura, his Japanese fellow also speak English to media, right?

For this Ohtani speaking English point, I agree with SAS, LOL…

[theforumblue]

Ohtani better start to speak English with media to avoid this kind of misunderstanding, he is in USA for more than 7 years. Japanese player just refuse to do so. Giannis can, Jokic can, Yao Ming can, why Ohtani can not? Rui Hachimura, his Japanese fellow also speak English to media, right?

For this Ohtani speaking English point, I agree with SAS, LOL…

pretending to not know the language is a convenient way to not have people bother him. Not as many anyway.

[art_tatum]

They probably both were in on it.
Ohtani is going to beat the investigation with every help from the MLB and the Japanese government. It's pretty much in everyone's best interests to sweep it under the rug and they will deport the interpretor in the end.

[alebaba]

Apparently the feds have investigated and found Shohei was completely in the dark. Interesting

Completely in the dark about millions of his money being wired to some bookie?


Ohtani hit his first HR as a Dodger at Dodgers Stadium last week. Dodgers marketing people rushed out to the stands and surrounded a young couple who got the ball, which is estimated to be worth at least $100k.

They separated the couple from each other and then gaslit the young woman into giving up the ball for nothing but some memorabilia.

Ohtani claimed that he took pictures with the young couple for giving up the ball. In fact he did not go meet them and take photos with them, he lied about it so that the strong-arm tactics of getting the ball from young fans wouldn't look bad.

Ohtani lied about a minor incident. He can't be lying about something more serious like gambling, could he?

Stop spreading false information. His translation messed up what Ohtani said; Ohtani never mentioned meeting up with them. A quick Google search already debunks this. By the way, Ohtani was interviewed by the feds right after the game, so he had no time to talk or take a picture with the fan.

They probably both were in on it.
Ohtani is going to beat the investigation with every help from the MLB and the Japanese government. It's pretty much in everyone's best interests to sweep it under the rug and they will deport the interpretor in the end.

Yeah, the feds are in on it, but Diddy, who has more connections and money, is getting raided by the feds... Put your tin foil hat down, flat earther. No amount of evidence will change your mind. Let me guess, you didn't even read the full report but love to assume things

Let me ask you this, if they wanted to cover this up, why was it leak by the feds in the first place? We wouldn't even be talking about this if it was a real cover up, smh... People like you always ignore the evidence and go straight to being conspiracy theorists..

[art_tatum]

Apparently the feds have investigated and found Shohei was completely in the dark. Interesting

Completely in the dark about millions of his money being wired to some bookie?


Ohtani hit his first HR as a Dodger at Dodgers Stadium last week. Dodgers marketing people rushed out to the stands and surrounded a young couple who got the ball, which is estimated to be worth at least $100k.

They separated the couple from each other and then gaslit the young woman into giving up the ball for nothing but some memorabilia.

Ohtani claimed that he took pictures with the young couple for giving up the ball. In fact he did not go meet them and take photos with them, he lied about it so that the strong-arm tactics of getting the ball from young fans wouldn't look bad.

Ohtani lied about a minor incident. He can't be lying about something more serious like gambling, could he?

Stop spreading false information. His translation messed up what Ohtani said; Ohtani never mentioned meeting up with them. A quick Google search already debunks this. By the way, Ohtani was interviewed by the feds right after the game, so he had no time to talk or take a picture with the fan.

They probably both were in on it.
Ohtani is going to beat the investigation with every help from the MLB and the Japanese government. It's pretty much in everyone's best interests to sweep it under the rug and they will deport the interpretor in the end.

yea, the feds are in on it, but Diddy who has more connection and money is getting raided by the feds... put your tin foil down, falt earther. No amount of evidence will change your mind..

When did I say the feds? I said ohtani and his buddy* also MLB and Japan sports / governing body(as it presents a bad image of probably the most famous Japanese person right now, and thus japan) will try their best to brush it under the rug. The feds will do their investigation but the higher ups aren't immune to outside pressure. In the end of the day illegal gambling isn't as bad as human trafficking. If the higher ups in the Japanese government cared enough to make a call, this investigation would not reach ohtani.

[alebaba]

Completely in the dark about millions of his money being wired to some bookie?


Ohtani hit his first HR as a Dodger at Dodgers Stadium last week. Dodgers marketing people rushed out to the stands and surrounded a young couple who got the ball, which is estimated to be worth at least $100k.

They separated the couple from each other and then gaslit the young woman into giving up the ball for nothing but some memorabilia.

Ohtani claimed that he took pictures with the young couple for giving up the ball. In fact he did not go meet them and take photos with them, he lied about it so that the strong-arm tactics of getting the ball from young fans wouldn't look bad.

Ohtani lied about a minor incident. He can't be lying about something more serious like gambling, could he?

Stop spreading false information. His translation messed up what Ohtani said; Ohtani never mentioned meeting up with them. A quick Google search already debunks this. By the way, Ohtani was interviewed by the feds right after the game, so he had no time to talk or take a picture with the fan.

They probably both were in on it.
Ohtani is going to beat the investigation with every help from the MLB and the Japanese government. It's pretty much in everyone's best interests to sweep it under the rug and they will deport the interpretor in the end.

yea, the feds are in on it, but Diddy who has more connection and money is getting raided by the feds... put your tin foil down, falt earther. No amount of evidence will change your mind..

When did I say the feds? I said ohtani and his buddy* also MLB and Japan sports / governing body(as it presents a bad imagine of probably the most famous Japanese person right now, and thus japan) will try their best to brush it under the rug. The feds will do their investigation but the higher ups aren't immune to outside pressure. In the end of the day illegal gambling isn't as bad as human trafficking. If the higher ups in the Japanese government cared enough to make a call, this investigation would not reach ohtani.

Did you not read the news? The feds, FBI, and IRS said Ohtani is innocent, but I guess they are all in on it, right? Go read the god dam report and come back and talk to me again..

Again, you are assuming things with no evidence, just like a typical flat earther

[ForeverTFC]

They probably both were in on it.
Ohtani is going to beat the investigation with every help from the MLB and the Japanese government. It's pretty much in everyone's best interests to sweep it under the rug and they will deport the interpretor in the end.

He grew up in California. Have to think he's a citizen or at least a permanent resident.

[wco81]

Bill Simmons podcast was discussing this.

Ohtani didn't early that much money when he was with the Angels. Maybe $50 million BEFORE taxes. So he had some endorsements, maybe he had $50 million in the bank.

So nobody noticed that 1/3 of his money was missing?

Or that the bookie kept giving the interpreter friend credit to bet? Bookie had to believe Ohtani was willing to back his friend or was secretly placing bets through the interpreter.

Otherwise, would you lend money to some friend of a big star athlete because the guy says he's best buds with the star?

Maybe Ohtani was really that naive and trusting.

But the initial story was that he knowingly gave his friend the money to pay off the gambling debts?

What will be telling is how seriously the interpreter is prosecuted. If he gets long prison time, then it would lend more credibility to this current story, that he did it all on his own. If he gets like a year with a lot of probation for being a first-time offender or something like that, it's probably fishy, like he agreed to take the fall in exchange for a very lenient sentence, to put this story to bed.

The amount of money that's stolen would be a serious crime. Sam Bankman Fried got 25 years for defrauding billions and he had no criminal record.

[alebaba]

Bill Simmons podcast was discussing this.

Ohtani didn't early that much money when he was with the Angels. Maybe $50 million BEFORE taxes. So he had some endorsements, maybe he had $50 million in the bank.

So nobody noticed that 1/3 of his money was missing?

Or that the bookie kept giving the interpreter friend credit to bet? Bookie had to believe Ohtani was willing to back his friend or was secretly placing bets through the interpreter.

Otherwise, would you lend money to some friend of a big star athlete because the guy says he's best buds with the star?

Maybe Ohtani was really that naive and trusting.

But the initial story was that he knowingly gave his friend the money to pay off the gambling debts?

What will be telling is how seriously the interpreter is prosecuted. If he gets long prison time, then it would lend more credibility to this current story, that he did it all on his own. If he gets like a year with a lot of probation for being a first-time offender or something like that, it's probably fishy, like he agreed to take the fall in exchange for a very lenient sentence, to put this story to bed.

The amount of money that's stolen would be a serious crime. Sam Bankman Fried got 25 years for defrauding billions and he had no criminal record.

You can read the 37-page report that tells you exactly how Ippei was able to steal 16 million from Ohtani, but you are sitting here making assumptions. Do you really think the IRS, MLB, FBI, and Homeland Security are involved in this cover-up? Come on

"But the initial story was that he knowingly gave his friend the money to pay off the gambling debts?"

You choose to believe the gambling addict, the same guy who lied about graduating from a certain college and said he used to work for the Red Sox?

And even if that were the case, why would Ippei be the fall guy? It would be a slap on the wrist for Ohtani, but now he's telling Ippei to lie and have Ippei face a maximum of 30 years in prison. Really? Ohtani would be in an even deeper hole if he used Ippei as the fall guy instead of coming clean about paying off Ippei's debt..

The evidence in the 37-page report is literally right there for you to read instead of coming up with all these conspiracy theories, lol

[inquisitive]

It’s a first account he registered in 2018 for salary account which Ohtani opened with help of Ippei and since then he never used it and only accumulated money deposited. Not connected to mobile number or mail as those were not established to Ohtani that time and could be added later, instead Ippei was proxy for the tie, being.
Ohtani was subsequently given multiple other accounts which was assisted by staffs of the Agency and was actively connected to Ohtani, which he used.

So why Ohtani didn’t know was that first account, 1) he never used only parking and accumulating money deposited which was the reason the balance was still growing despite Ippei withdrew as the inflow was still larger. 2) He didn’t think anybody was withdrawing so no need to check. (He himself wasn’t using it).

Ohtani thought his agent and advisors were monitoring the account like the other accounts. Ippei lied to the agent and advisors that Ohtani wanted to keep the account “private” and to Ohtani that they were monitoring the account.

[Rendei]

Bill Simmons podcast was discussing this.

Ohtani didn't early that much money when he was with the Angels. Maybe $50 million BEFORE taxes. So he had some endorsements, maybe he had $50 million in the bank.

So nobody noticed that 1/3 of his money was missing?

Or that the bookie kept giving the interpreter friend credit to bet? Bookie had to believe Ohtani was willing to back his friend or was secretly placing bets through the interpreter.

Otherwise, would you lend money to some friend of a big star athlete because the guy says he's best buds with the star?

Maybe Ohtani was really that naive and trusting.

But the initial story was that he knowingly gave his friend the money to pay off the gambling debts?

What will be telling is how seriously the interpreter is prosecuted. If he gets long prison time, then it would lend more credibility to this current story, that he did it all on his own. If he gets like a year with a lot of probation for being a first-time offender or something like that, it's probably fishy, like he agreed to take the fall in exchange for a very lenient sentence, to put this story to bed.

The amount of money that's stolen would be a serious crime. Sam Bankman Fried got 25 years for defrauding billions and he had no criminal record.

This is a pretty good summary of the 37 page federal case report for those who don't want to read the entire thing and are feeling skeptical:

Watch on YouTube

The feds don't mess around. So all of this is probably pretty accurate. As for the interpreter, Ohtani is the one who would have to press charges on him, I believe? They're old friends, so I don't envy him having to make that decision. There are also issues such as the deception of banks, but I'm not very familiar with the law in that regard.

[Ssj16]

It sounds like people are now starting to believe that Ohtani is most likely in the clear.

I don't know if he's lying or not but I've consumed enough white-collar crime content to know that rich people get duped out of millions all the time, so I wouldn't say this story is out of the realm of possibility.