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

[KnicksGadfly]

Manfred is not gonna risk his cash cow...MLB doesn't even want to investigate this.

[Ambrose]

So if it was found that Ohtani bet on baseball will he be banned from the league like Pete Rose?

If that's actually the case, you'd think there's a better chance of MLB making the interpreter "disappear" than banning Ohtani.

Which is why the conspiracy falls flat.

People like to go against the most obvious thing, but the world (especially Americans) love conspiracies. Ohtani would've basically needed to be a MJ-level degenerate gambler risking almost a billion dollars he has coming in from his contract + sponsors just to get off some bets.

Not impossible, but also complete opposite of what we've seen from his personality.

NFL players get about a two game ban for non-NFL bets in facilities, I think a year if its NFL and not on your team.

Also Pete Rose bet on baseball. At most, what Ohtani would be liable for would be covering for Ippei having a gambling issue and betraying his trust, which would be a hilariously silly reason to give someone the Pete Rose treatment for.

Ippei being the "fall guy" is just a cute story until more comes out.

Probably because the story that gets told is far more often than you'd think, not the truth. Know someone in the entertainment industry, and pretty much everything that goes public is a lie.

[hauntedcomputer]

Probably because the story that gets told is far more often than you'd think, not the truth. Know someone in the entertainment industry, and pretty much everything that goes public is a lie.

Like he said, people love conspiracies.

[hauntedcomputer]

Probably because the story that gets told is far more often than you'd think, not the truth. Know someone in the entertainment industry, and pretty much everything that goes public is a lie.

Like he said, people love conspiracies.

Every pro athlete is within six degrees of Vinnie the Pipe.

[azcatz11]

It’s his longtime friend.

Bottom line - at best shohei is funding illegal gambling. He should be given Pete rose treatment.

My best friend doesn’t have my bank account and I don’t have her’s. I still don’t get it.

Yeah how would a “friend” be able to take out millions from someone’s bank account?

Was it in a single transaction? Because the bank may have to report large transactions.

At a minimum, you’d think they’d notify Ohtani that this individual is making large withdrawals.

Does anyone let people in their family, other than maybe their spouse, be able to access large sums of money from their accounts?

Maybe Ohtani had so many large bank accounts that he wasn’t paying attention?

It sounds like a cover story, the interpreter did it. Might as well say the butler did it.

You would think the bank would flag those transactions...I agree

[Ambrose]

Probably because the story that gets told is far more often than you'd think, not the truth. Know someone in the entertainment industry, and pretty much everything that goes public is a lie.

Like he said, people love conspiracies.

Yeah, and like I said, for good reason.

Not saying I know any world altering info, but there are little things that are widely accepted or that you can view on Wikipedia that I know for a fact are not true.

[scrabbarista]

If that's actually the case, you'd think there's a better chance of MLB making the interpreter "disappear" than banning Ohtani.

Which is why the conspiracy falls flat.

People like to go against the most obvious thing, but the world (especially Americans) love conspiracies. Ohtani would've basically needed to be a MJ-level degenerate gambler risking almost a billion dollars he has coming in from his contract + sponsors just to get off some bets.

Not impossible, but also complete opposite of what we've seen from his personality.

NFL players get about a two game ban for non-NFL bets in facilities, I think a year if its NFL and not on your team.

Also Pete Rose bet on baseball. At most, what Ohtani would be liable for would be covering for Ippei having a gambling issue and betraying his trust, which would be a hilariously silly reason to give someone the Pete Rose treatment for.

Ippei being the "fall guy" is just a cute story until more comes out.

Probably because the story that gets told is far more often than you'd think, not the truth. Know someone in the entertainment industry, and pretty much everything that goes public is a lie.

1000%.

If there's one thing I'd be willing to bet on above all else, it's that we, the public, will not learn what really happened here.

My guess would be that Ohtani was helping fund his friend's gambling problem, but that Ohtani wasn't gambling, but that this absolutely cannot be made public, because it amounts to Ohtani sending millions to gambling operations, presumably sports gambling operations, presumably MLB sports gambling operations. However, this is purely a guess. Other, totally different explanations are also possible (it was without Ohtani's knowledge or Ohtani himself was gambling being the obvious two).

In a better world, we could discover this and all just say, "Well, bad personal choice by Ohtani, but nothing really significant as far as his baseball career goes." However, in this world, it could very well mean the end of his career, if not worse. In other words, it might be "hilariously silly" in a better world, but this isn't that world, so the friend will need to be the fall guy, and the truth won't come out - whatever it is.

[JDR720]

MLB just announced they're beginning an investigation into Ohtani.

[Tor_Raps]

Imagine you're going to have a billion dollars in your bank account and you find ways to illegally gamble? Just doesn't make sense man lol.

[durden_tyler]

Just secretly suspend him. Play in the NBA for 1 and 1/2 years then announce “he’s back” in the MLB. He might end up the GOAT too.

[makubesu]

Just secretly suspend him. Play in the NBA for 1 and 1/2 years then announce “he’s back” in the MLB. He might end up the GOAT too.

Why do you think he picked his current wife? So he could secretly work on his jump shot.

[azcatz11]

Imagine you're going to have a billion dollars in your bank account and you find ways to illegally gamble? Just doesn't make sense man lol.

He’s probably addicted. It’s all about the endorphins rush to your brain. Ohtani needs rehab

[Dirk]

Imagine you're going to have a billion dollars in your bank account and you find ways to illegally gamble? Just doesn't make sense man lol.

He’s probably addicted. It’s all about the endorphins rush to your brain. Ohtani needs rehab

I have a friend close to Ohtani's camp that revealed to me that this interpreter lost millions of dollars following Durden_tyle'rs picks and buying meme coins.

[JigenDaisuke]

Ohtani would have to give his account access to the interpreter for this to happen. Maybe he did. Even if he did, wouldn't he look in the account and think, hey who did I wire all this money to? The bank sends wire transfer advice to the account holders email. Also, they will either send a letter in the mail or put it on his online banking statement. And that's if they don't hold the wire for fraud reasons and try and contact the account holder first.

[wco81]

Even if he's innocent and he was indeed a victim of this friend, it doesn't look great for Ohtani either.

So rich and got spare bank accounts that he can't keep track of them all and maybe got careless?

[madskillz8]

Imagine you're going to have a billion dollars in your bank account and you find ways to illegally gamble? Just doesn't make sense man lol.

Gambling is an addiction. Even if he's the one gambling, not his friend, it is not like he''s doing that to earn more money.

Not really sure, but is this case really about they are involving in illegal gambling or it is Ohtani's involvement that makes illegal?

[JDR720]

Imagine you're going to have a billion dollars in your bank account and you find ways to illegally gamble? Just doesn't make sense man lol.

Gambling is an addiction. Even if he's the one gambling, not his friend, it is not like he''s doing that to earn more money.

Not really sure, but is this case really about they are involving in illegal gambling or it is Ohtani's involvement that makes illegal?

Players aren't allowed to gamble in any sport. Also, sports gambling is still illegal in California.

[madskillz8]

Imagine you're going to have a billion dollars in your bank account and you find ways to illegally gamble? Just doesn't make sense man lol.

Gambling is an addiction. Even if he's the one gambling, not his friend, it is not like he''s doing that to earn more money.

Not really sure, but is this case really about they are involving in illegal gambling or it is Ohtani's involvement that makes illegal?

Players aren't allowed to gamble in any sport. Also, sports gambling is still illegal in California.

Thanks for clarifying, so both are true.

[Raps in 4]

How in the actual **** do you think you can get away with skimming $4.5 MILLION!?

Be Ohtani's friend.

I think I tend to believe the friend's initial account but then Ohtani's advisors probably got wind of it and then pointed out how bad it would look for Ohtani that money was coming from Ohtani's personal account.

Yep. This was my interpretation as well.

[ForeverTFC]

Even if he was gambling, as long as it wasn't on MLB games, who cares? All the leagues are in bed with books at this point.

Also, let's stop with the Pete Rose stuff. Rose bet on baseball games and happened in 1989. Whoever made these bets apparently didn't bet on baseball and we're in 2024.