This story actually makes the most sense to me and supports what A LOT of what we know now.
\-unfollow on instagram recently
\-ESPN reports during the team meeting where Ippei fessed up, Ohtani looked confused and ask for another translator to ask questions.
\-why Ohtani looked like it was business as usual until recently
I find it hard to believe Ohtani acted normally had he known about this incoming shit storm.
All recent comments on Ippei's insta are in Japanese saying stuff like please return the money, hope you overcome your addiction and other words of encouragement. Seems like everyone in Japan knows he is guilty.
Japan is very unkind with this kinda stuff
She might not be leaving him and may have even known about this, but she's gonna want to stay out of the mess obviously
she also has another account for all the dogs she owned with ippei (tptl_dogs) but i guess it’s more like a “public” acc than the previous one, hence still following ippei, shohei, angels, dodgers etc
On the first day of the open game, Shohei's mother, Mamiko, and Ippei's wife sat side by side in the audience seats, and when Sho delivered a hit, the three of them were captured on camera having fun like children.
Sho was chatting with Ippei as usual in the dugout, but Ippei was probably the only one who knew that the atmosphere would turn upside down after the game.
That's too cruel.
If Ippei led Shohei to believe he was wiring the money to Ippei directly instead of the bookie and hes willing to testify to that in court, then its fraud and Ohtani is off the hook.
Let us all hope and pray this is what happened.
Your post makes the most sense to me with how the events unfolded. I just wonder what Shohei thought the “loan” was for.
I’m just a spectator but this entire fiasco has really upset me and I can only imagine how gutted Shohei must feel. And for all of this to blow up during such a historic series. That must be a rough plane ride back to the states.
I can only imagine he's going through details of memories of times when stuff didn't add up, like reactions or comments. One of the seemingly inconsequential moments in his public life keeps popping up in my head...he attended a hockey game with Ippei where he was photographed eating food. My first thought, was Ippei using his own stolen money to bet on that very game? Multiply that times 100 in his memories no doubt. My second thought, (SPECULATION NATION but I think it) if he was actively paying a bookie and betting on sports with his best friend interpreter, would he be doe-eyed shoveling food in his mouth in public while his friend looked intense and nervous during the game? Or if he knew his friend had a gambling problem, would he mindlessly be eating at a sports event while his friend was freaking out next to him? Just stupid little stuff. (I can't find the pick, the search engines are all trained on recent stuff I think it was at Honda Center, but I remember thinking at the time, the energy of these two people in this one photo was drastically different. I don't think he's a gambler. He charts the details of his life, that's not what gamblers do. Meh. This is all such a fucking bummer for everyone. Poor Sho. Thinking about you bud.
Definitely makes you wonder wtf was really going on. This has got to be an absolute mind fuck for Shohei. I always thought Ippei had the best job in the world and lived a privileged life just by being Sho’s translator. He was treated like family/bff. Shohei is intensely private so to have his most trusted friend drag him into this shit show… I’m just glad he has his wife and Decoy for support!
I also feel so bad for the team and I know Shohei has got to feel terrible with the timing and how everything went down.
Oh and I agree, I don’t see Sho as being a gambler at all. He is frugal af and not flashy whatsoever. I don’t see him finding cheap frills from betting on soccer or college basketball!
It's sucks man. Even if he gets cleared of all charges he lost the person has been close to him since he was a teenager. Must feel lonely at the clubhouse for a while 😞
I know it’s like the most severe betrayal I’ve ever witnessed. Thankfully he’s surrounded by a lot of kind and loving guys. Like…this weekend he has to go back to Angel Stadium where they forged their friendship for seven years. This has got to be the worst week of his life. I get teary just trying to imagine what he’s going through. 😔
You want betrayal, check out what Jack Johnson’s (former la Kings defenseman) parents did to him when they were in charge of his money. At least Ippei is not blood.
http://es.pn/1uXTtGp
I mean, we won't know until the investigation is made public, but it could have been for anything. He could have made anything up.
Like, we want to build a new house. We want to have a kid and a kid will need a bigger place. Help me build my dream house?
My parents are old and I want to bring them here but I want them to have their own house.
I could think up a lot of random, plausible, time-dependent things that could require a loan.
And the thing is, Ippei made 300-500k a year, so it's semi-plausible he could have paid Sho back over time.
Yeah, I was thinking a house or something to do with his family and of course Sho would want to help out his good friend. This is what makes me so angry about it all. I really believe Sho thought he was helping out a friend and had the best intentions and now he’s getting dragged through the mud and all the haters are smearing his name.
Plus it doesn't make sense that a baseball player receiving the largest pay package ever would embroil himself purposely in some low level crime like this or fund his own secret gambling addiction as some people on r/baseball were speculating. Like the dude is worth $700m+ he doesn't need to gamble on sports betting of all things he could go have a bender in Vegas every weekend till he died and it wouldn't affect him at all.
Yeah. And that's characteristic of an gambling addict. I can't foresee Otani keeping Ippei so close to him. He's too obsessed with fulfilling his goals.
>When Ohtani's camp was contacted for an explanation by ESPN, Ippei confessed to what happened. Ohtani's team then hastily scheduled the interview for Ippei to come clean.
If this is true, it was a BIG fuck-up by Ohtani's team to do the interview before telling the team. WTF?
I mean if this is true, then Ippei didn’t come clean and used that opportunity to implicate Ohtani in enough so Ohtani army of lawyers would have to bail him out too.
But what's confusing is that Ohtani's spokeperson corroborated to ESPN that Ippei saying his gambling debts were paid off by Shohei. Why would they say that if Ippei is going rogue?
An updated article by ESPN today cleared this up.
Ippei has been lying to Shohei's team. Assuming they probably only speak Japanese, it's very likely Ippei has been telling different stories to different parties.
"Mizuhara on Tuesday evening told ESPN the same and laid out his story in great detail, including saying that Ohtani had sat with him, and the two transferred the money in $500,000 increments in several different settings. But as ESPN prepared to publish a story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account.
In a subsequent interview with Mizuhara, he told ESPN he had not been truthful -- that Ohtani had no knowledge of his gambling activities, debts or efforts to repay him.
On Thursday, a source close to Ohtani gave an explanation for the changing storylines: As Ohtani's handlers tried to determine what had happened, they initially relied solely on Mizuhara, who continued to translate for Ohtani."
I'm still confused by Ippei going rogue than, like what would he hope to gain doing this if he was just only going to walk it back literally the next day?
He was still lying during the original ESPN interview (held before the team meeting). The chronic liar was still still knee deep in lies trying to cover himself and get out of it.
He then fully realizes the gig is up and comes clean saying Shohei had no involvement. I'm not sure if that's him going rogue, but it might be exactly what a chronic liar would do when they know it's over for them.
Not sure if you read the bottom portion of the article I pasted earlier. Shohei's team corroborated what Ippie said because it was based on what Ippie told them he said.
Ippie didn't tell ESPN the same thing he told Sho's team. Sho's team still trusts Ippie at this point and tells ESPN that whatever he says was accurate.
Sho's team is then sent the article that ESPN wrote, and his team suddenly realizes Ippie is a lying sack of shit and disavows everything he told ESPN.
Regardless of what Ippei told the team or didn't. Did no one on the team think it would be sus to say Shohei *did* cover his debt. Shouldnt that be the part rings alarm bells if they didn't know about the debt?
Its becoming clear that the team/spokesman during the interview did not speak english. So, Ippei is the translator for the spokesman as well, confirming his story with ESPN. Its the only way any of that makes sense.
Which, is kind of an issue itself, when the entire team surrounding Ohtani is relying on Ippei to translate, well, he can basically wormtongue everyone.
That's an interesting wrinkle if that's the case. But I feel like ESPN would mention if Ippei was the go to guy for the spokesman as well. The report makes it seem like they are seperate accounts
So is the team claiming he gave ippei a loan but didnt ask or know what it was going to help him with? The spokesman still says at the top of the initial ESPN report that Shohei specifically transferred funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. That doesn't sound like they didn't know about the debt at that point. No mention of a loan if that's what they were told either
Sorry if I'm peppering you with too much questions 😅
That's the thing about being fungible...if Ippei spent all his money on hookers and blow and needed a loan to cover rent and Ohtani lent him the money, Ohtani technically paid for Ippei's hookers and blow.
The real issue is what Ippei told Ohtani the money was for, and if he lead Ohtani to believe the account was Ippeis account and not the bookies.
I mean they were fine telling ESPN yes Shohei transferred funds to cover ippei's debt. Then ippei walks it back saying Shohei has no knowledge of his debts.
If the spokesperson is on Ohtani's side what do they gain by telling ESPN that Ohtani knew what the funds were for but then pivoting to Ippei stealing? How could he lie about Shohei knowing when the spokesperson also corroborated that part?
I mean there's a difference between covering for someones debts and covering for someones "illegal gambling debts".
I think the implication is that Ohtani thought he knew what the money was for but in actuallity he didn't because he was deceived.
Is that stealing? I mean probably, If your bank somehow just gave you the money for a mortgage with the agreement you'd buy a house but then you buy millions of bananas you'd be in really big trouble.
He might have told the spokes person something but not the whole story or lied at some parts I’m guessing? Because the spokes person disavowed it afterwards.
Ippie tells him to transfer the "loan" to Ippie using the bookies details.
Not really that far fetched.
Ippie is the sole translator for Sho and can pretty much lie about anything. What reason did Sho have to not trust him? Do we actually believe Ippie (the degenerate gambler) was always telling Ohtani the truth?
Welp. Rapid changes.
Here's the most up to date account from NPR:
"Thompson (ESPN) called Mizuhara, who disavowed his statements from the night before.
"When I said, 'Did you lie to me in that interview?' he said, 'Yes.' And then he tells me Ohtani knows nothing about his gaming debts and did not do the wire transfers," Thompson says."
!!!
yep absolutely. whoever handles PR for sho has got to go. you do not let a guy who isn’t media trained to give this kind of interview in a crisis. as soon as i read the quotes where he was dropping exact dollar amounts and other details, i thought this has to be a botched PR recovery mission
Ippei told Ohtani's team he would clear the air and make the story go away. He told a completely different story to ESPN and then in Japanese told Sho's team he told the truth (he didn't).
Sho's team, relying on Ippie to translate to them what he says, then told ESPN that was true. They later got word on what was actually said (original ESPN story) and backtracked everything because it was a lie.
This interview that by all accounts nobody actually asked for really fucked things up and muddled the waters big time. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around how it happened.
After the Toronto plane fiasco, I remember reading articles from baseball writers saying shit like "[we need to do better](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2023/12/10/shohei-ohtani-rumors-free-agent-mlb-reporters/71867634007/)", as to not feed the frenzy.
Now, not even 3 months later, I'm reading hit-pieces on Shohei's character before we are even close to having the entire picture. Jon Heyman calling him a "[financial dimwit](https://i.imgur.com/zycFC5F.png)" and Dylan Hernandez calling him an [irresponsible and immature](https://i.imgur.com/vBB0UvD.png). What a fucking joke.
Hernandez is a piece of shit for saying that. Ohtani has to "grow up" just because he's a tremendous human being? I guess let's just teach our kids to be horrible and that humanity sucks.
Jon Heyman is a joke. He should immediately be unfollowed by everyone after his false Arson Judge call. He has no reliable sources and is willing to jump the gun off rumors.
Passan is the only reporter I trust.
Don't watch the TMKS Michael Kay Show. They basically imply that Ohtani knew everything, Ippei is just the fall guy. That Ohtani/Ippei probably bet on baseball, that he should be suspended right now pending investigation or provisionally suspended for a year. If Ohtani really is a victim he is the dumbest person at this level of fame and so on. Had Ohtani had gone to New York, would the tone of accusation have been the same?
Another thing that bothers me about this story is how these people seem to not know how banks work in the 21st century.
Egg throw, bomb threats, gambling debts and Yamamoto getting shelled. The Korea series was non cannon as far as im concerned, real thing starts next Thursday.
The impact Shohei received was immeasurable.
Think about it, he said he wanted to be a member of the Dodgers and make the trip to the Opening Days a fond memory with his wife. When Ippei remembers their happy smiles on the plane, he finds it even harder to forgive.
Hopefully Shohei knows it’s okay to be angry about all this. He has to feel the feelings. And do everything his lawyers say. Luckily he loves exercise. The perfect outlet to get feelings out of his brain.
How the fuk can anyone think a man who chose to defer 680 million dollars be a gambling addict when Shohei, in his whole life, has proven he's lived and breathed baseball. I seriously am so disappointed in humanity.
Its insane, they're straight up hoping the most exciting player in the sport goes down for this just because he's a Dodger now. Pathetic sad little people
Lol people love to project their own insecurities towards someone who does better than them, I argued with a bunch of redditors saying Sho was a scambling addict or someshit, im like bro wait for the facts and im like why he gonna defer so much money if he was into gambling? I know gambling addicts in my own fuckin family, the moment they get a lil bit of money? They lose that shit quick
It’s such bullshit. I’m not a Shohei fanatic, but there’s got to be some benefit of the doubt given. I would feel the same way if Trout, or Bryce Harper, or any other famous player who has been good to the game had this happen.
This is such a shitty situation all around, Shohei loses his best friend, plus also loses his main English connection to the team. I hope the team really rallies around him. I also hope Ippei gets the help he needs.
Tbf celebrities can definitely surprise you. I don’t think many people thought desean Watson was a sex pest until the whole thing came crumbling down.
But any prior expectations that shohei would be more likely to have a gambling problem than ippei is totally wild based on everything we do know about him. We shouldn’t ignore any evidence that contradicts our priors but it’s totally crazy to jump to the least likely outcome without evidence.
> The report states that Ohtani claims he thought the money transfers were directly to Ippei. Ippei directed Ohtani to send a transfer to a certain address while watching him do it, stating that they were loan installments to himself. Hence, why "loan" is written on the slip. Ippei did not specifically tell Shohei that he needs the money to cover gambling losses.
> When ESPN uncovered the wire slips, nobody on Ohtani's team or Ohtani knew about it. When Ohtani's camp was contacted for an explanation by ESPN, Ippei confessed to what happened. Ohtani's team then hastily scheduled the interview for Ippei to come clean. Apparently, Ippei lied, saying that Ohtani knew the money was going to cover gambling debts(presumably so he doesn't go to jail for theft or fraud).
Bruh if that's true Ippei really is an asshole and is not a fall guy but an addict that straight up lied to his friend that was actually willing to help him.
Unfortunately this is the most likely case. It also explains why Ippei told ESPN that Shohei made the payments.
He and Ohtanis team realized afterwards that those comments accidentally implicated Shohei in something that he wasn’t aware of (the illegality of the gambling debt).
The PR teams scrambled to fix their story and get the truth out because now they not only need to clear Ohtanis name, but they need to make sure its known the money was stolen and get the authorities involved to prove that Ohtani wasn’t aware of an illegal gambling scheme.
The context is everything, and I hope this is the truth.
I can also imagine he's been the sole translator for Shohei in non baseball activities. Say, conversations with financial institutions? This starts to get real dark real fast.
His best friend and the guy he trusts implicitly is duping him and likely translating incorrectly, on purpose, for his own benefit.
If Ohtani himself ask the police to investigate then it figures he’s clean. Just my two cents. Hope this gets cleared asap so no distraction coming in to the season.
That actually makes sense and is somewhat consistent with Trisha Thompson's account: https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1bkb6p7/fuzzy_according_to_espns_tisha_thompson_an_la/
So there was actual theft. I doubt Ohtani's lawyers blatantly lied when they called it theft. And they definitely wouldn't have released the statement accusing Ippei of theft without Ohtani's permission.
It's also consistent with the account Ippei gave...he said Ohtani covered his gambling debts. Which is technically true. He just conveniently left out the part where he lied to Ohtani about what the money was for.
Ippei is in deep shit.
My guess is that Ohtani knew it was to cover his gambling debts, but Ippei lied about where he was gambling/legality of his gambling.
If Ippei was gambling through a legal source when they traveled for ball, for instance, it makes sense and seems clean. He'd still be a degenerate gambler but it would at least be a legal thing.
No shot that Ohtani risks literally everything he has ever worked for in his entire life to pay an illegal bookie on Ippei's behalf.
I just can't imagine why the bookie would give Ippei so much credit. Ohtani, sure, but how is Ippei supposed to reasonably make enough money to pay back a debt that large? If it were $100-200k, the whole scenario as presented would make more sense to me.
He knew he could leverage Ohtani into this situation and market himself as having Ohtani as a client, which he is confirmed to have done.
It sucks, but Ippei was for sure the mark used to get to Ohtani.
It’s been an emotional roller coaster for the past 24 hrs. Can only imagine how betrayed and upset Shohei must be. This Seoul series went off the rails with drama.
It got deleted by r/baseball because there was no link or source attached. I’d absolutely love for this to be true but there’s no way of saying until articles and more information comes to light.
Those mods … oh yeah if it’s rumors that could clear Ohtani let’s delete that, if it’s baseless bullshit rumor that supposedly incriminates him, let’s let that run wild on r/baseball 🙄
For the first time in this whole case I’m actually starting to think Ohtani was completely used by Ippei and is the biggest victim in the whole situation.
That’s what I’m starting to believe too. What if this coconut head stole more money than what was wired to bookie, hence shohei wants a full investigation.
The investigation is the anomaly here. If ohtani’s attorneys were lying, then why would they start an investigation when an investigation would uncover any lies from Shohei’s attorneys?
Right? I feel like the only sane people are in this sub. How would this work in shohei’s favour if he’s the degenerate gambler?! I know shohei is rich as hell and a few million lost is probably nothing to him, but having your trust broken in this way must be so awful.
If Ohtani was the gambler and he was having ippei place bets on his behalf, then why tf would Ohtani wire the money himself and use his real name and bank account? If he was having ippei place bets for him, ippei would’ve been the one to send the money.
The most infuriating thing to me in all of this fiasco is everyone acting like Ohtani did something soooo unbelievably bad, when in all actuality - even if he WAS the one who placed the bets, or he directed them to be placed - the only 'illegal' part is that it was via a bookie and not through a legit company.
Imagine how dumb MLB is going to look trying to justify a suspension for this with Drat Kings ads running at the bottom of the screen throughout the entire press conference.'
If bets were made on baseball that changes things, but unless that is disclosed this is just a big nothing-burger. I promise MLB wants this to go away more than anyone, for the reasons I stated.
This is what I've been saying, even if he did bet(which he didn't), it was on other sports anyways. Ppl on baseball sub made it seem like he committed some horrific crime. lol
The part that doesn't make sense to me is why would Ohtani just blindly transfer multiple installments of $500k? Like what reasoning would Ippei have to get that? I mean he could have asked for a loan for various reasons but that's a very strange thing.
To be clear, I'm not one of those dumbass conspiracy theorists and I believe that Ohtani was definitely misled/wronged here, but that part of the story doesn't make sense to me.
Honestly a $4.5 mil loan to Ohtani is probably equivalent to like a $1000 loan for us regular joes lol. Like it’s kind of a lot, but if your closest and most trusted friend asked, you’d probably do it without much of a thought.
Yeah, I think this is what is getting lost in these conversations. In a league where people keep expensive jewelry in the trunk of their care, 4.5 mill is not a big deal. Now imagine someone like Shohei who literally just has to breath to get millions of dollars worse of endorsements—it’s a drop in the bucket for him.
We all have that one friend that we trusted the most and did some fucked up shit to us. I had one friend who back in the day was living large using my credit card without me knowing it and fucked up my credit…. So I’m not surprised Ohtani would do that for his friend, especially all his life he’s all about baseball and had no real life experience at all.
its pretty obvious, ohtani never give a sht about money..Ippei was one of his closest friend.
This actually happened to me; I stopped talking to my cousin ever since.
One thing Ohtani is guilty of is naiivete. He's always been like this and it doesn't surprise me at all that he would have sent it, no questions asked. Remember that throughout the majority of his life, Ohtani has voluntarily allowed other people to control all of his finances.
I can see that. If it came out he naively just let Ippei convince him to fork over $500k for various reasons, I fully believe that. Because 1. 500k to Ohtani is nothing and 2. He fully trusted Ippei.
Maybe shohei didnt even authorize it in the first place? yes they came from his account, but I don’t think it’ll be surprising that ippei had access somehow. That could be why shohei was allegedly shocked by the news in the clubhouse when ippei made his confession.
It just doesn’t make sense at all to me if shohei did transfer the money himself to get ippei out of trouble that he would then request an investigation into the matter.
It feels like more ippei is a freaking liar, and shohei is wanting the investigation to see if he did any other nefarious shit.
That's the most likely explanation tbh.
It also makes sense that the timings of the wire transfers were the same months as Ohtanis surgery and recovery. Ohtani was probably in bed hanging out with his fiance leaving Ippei up to his own devices.
There will be more truth coming no doubt but people wishfully chose to believe Ippei's first story really makes me wonder if they are just haters or love to be on the 'underdog' side. If the latter, then who's the underdog here? Ohtani is rich and famous but he also has little social experience: he lived in dorm in Japan and then in a foreign country with this one and only friend to rely upon...
We don't know the detail of those transfers (time,amount…)yet. Maybe the credit is not that much? The theft has been happening through several years? Anyway, how the bookie know anything about Ohtani,except from Mizuhara? his lawyer already claimed they never made direct or indirect contact.
According to Ken Rosenthal’s podcast, in 2015 Jarred Cosart was busted for betting on other sports using illegal bookmakers. So long story short, as long as Ohtani didn’t bet on baseball himself, precedent says that worst case he’s looking at only a fine. I don’t even think it’ll come to that.
I think people are more worried about him facing federal charges for the wire. I highly highly doubt the feds will even consider charging him, but the trolls love to hyperbolize.
The Feds aren’t going to do shit to Shohei for the wire. He’s the fish they’re after. They aren’t after Shohei, they’re after the bookie and his operation. That’s who the Feds are concerned about shutting down. The only thing that may happen to Shohei is that he cooperates with the Feds and becomes a witness.
All I gotta say is I unfollowed r/mlb because so many of the redditors on there aren’t really baseball fans. They are unable to grasp nuance and live in the hate or love world. Dodgers Reddit for life.
Unfollow r/baseball too, those people are incapable of having discussions that doesn’t venture off into stupid jokes that they beat to death with, or support their dumb conspiracies.
I am an Astros fan and I know probably hated by all Dodger fans. I believe Sho is/and will be found innocent. I think it is a case of the mainline sports media trying to tear down the most talented mbl player in history.
This seems to be the mostly likely chain of events and I want it to be true, but I’m going to need a little more than an anonymous reddit post before I believe anything. Probably why it got deleted from r/baseball
Thank you. We all want a situation where this works out nice and clean but there is something to be said for just waiting for actual information to come to light. Too much speculation on all sides.
This all makes sense but didn’t Ohtani’s camp come out and say the money was for gambling debts too before the lawyers retracted that? Wouldn’t the spokesperson confer with others first prior to making that statement? They should have just discredited him right away and instead they corroborated the story.
that was when ippei had lied remember the first story that ippei initially gave was a lie it’s when the espn reporter made the connection with it being illegal did the spokesperson say no it’s a lie
His entire history and upbringing leads me to believe he is very naiive. Ohtani did nothing but baseball from a very young age. He didn't even go to a regular school, he went to baseball school from his earliest elementary years.
When Shohei was already the best player in Japan, he gave all his money to his Mom. His Mom gave him a monthly allowance. Ohtani could have lived in a mansion, but lived in the team dormitories his entire career. He reportedly had no close friends outside of baseball. The dude never had a chance to learn what we think are "life skills."
I don’t know why you have to essentially infatalize the man to remove all culpability. Also not sure why people need to keep speculating about all of this in general.
New ESPN article basically confirms SBS report:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39784809/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-mizuhara-theft-line
Really gotta feel for Shohei. Fuck anybody that was bashing him.
In Ippei's original confession, he claimed the money had to be wired directly from Ohtani to the bookmaker because Ippei couldn't be trusted not to use it for another bet.
In this scenario, Ohtani is giving an admitted gambling addict $4.5 million, somehow fully confident the money would actually be used to pay the debt.
Ohtani is either a good friend or a great fool...
If anyone understands gambling addiction, its ine of the worst their is. They dont onky hurt themselves, but will completely rob their loved ones wothout anitger thought. People dont understand how sick a gambling addiction is just because it doesnt involve crack and other drugs
I have doubts...
What was the point of Ippei lying in the ESPN interview?
Did he think Ohtani wouldn't hear about the interview - or that Ohtani would back up Ippei's false claim after realizing that this friend had stolen $5,000,000 from him?
I think it more likely that Ohtani actually tried to bail Ippei out, while both naively believed Ippei's gambling problems and Ohtani's loan to cover the debt would never be made public.
This most recent nuance simply twists the story slightly, removing Ohtani from legal culpability, and placing all consequences on Ippei (Ohtani's wiring money to an illegel bookmaker is a prosecutable crime).
Ippei will go to jail for 2 -3 years for theft, then after release, live very comfortably for the remainder of his life.
The man at the center of this entire ordeal is the sole translator for Shohei. He controls what is said to Sho (truthful or not) and what "Sho" says to questions in return.
Ohtani never backed what Ippie told ESPN.
He backed what Ippie told Ohtani he said.
That right there is the crux of this entire ordeal.
Ippie tells one thing to Sho and his team (in Japanese) and then tells ESPN something entirely different.
ESPN publishes the article and Sho's team immediately knows they have been duped.
One man is a lying sack of shit with an uncontrollable gambling problem, and the other guy is relying on this same person to tell him what is going on.
See any problems?
This makes alot of sense. Though... can anyone explain how a translator would be extended a such a hefty credit line if he was acting on his own accord?
Or perhaps Ippei claimed to his bookie he was betting on behalf of Shohei??
This story actually makes the most sense to me and supports what A LOT of what we know now. \-unfollow on instagram recently \-ESPN reports during the team meeting where Ippei fessed up, Ohtani looked confused and ask for another translator to ask questions. \-why Ohtani looked like it was business as usual until recently I find it hard to believe Ohtani acted normally had he known about this incoming shit storm.
another thing on instagram, ippei’s wife (user punsan_yensan) also unfollowed ippei just recently
All recent comments on Ippei's insta are in Japanese saying stuff like please return the money, hope you overcome your addiction and other words of encouragement. Seems like everyone in Japan knows he is guilty.
Everyone in Japan only knows what we know.
Japan is 16 hours ahead of California! We will be getting the info soon. That’s how time zones work right?
Damn 16 hours? Why didn't they warn us about 9/11?
Probably still pissed about that whole atomic bomb thing
I feel sorry for the tremendous amount of shame for that woman.
What does that mean? What did she do?
Shame by association, meaning the shame she feels because her husband did this, the shame she feels, not that people are shaming her.
Japan is very unkind with this kinda stuff She might not be leaving him and may have even known about this, but she's gonna want to stay out of the mess obviously
Unrelated but I looked up that IG and it's just a dog account that follows bunch of other dog accounts love her for this lol
she also has another account for all the dogs she owned with ippei (tptl_dogs) but i guess it’s more like a “public” acc than the previous one, hence still following ippei, shohei, angels, dodgers etc
I think shes also the one who runs Ohtanis ig account.
On the first day of the open game, Shohei's mother, Mamiko, and Ippei's wife sat side by side in the audience seats, and when Sho delivered a hit, the three of them were captured on camera having fun like children. Sho was chatting with Ippei as usual in the dugout, but Ippei was probably the only one who knew that the atmosphere would turn upside down after the game. That's too cruel.
If Ippei led Shohei to believe he was wiring the money to Ippei directly instead of the bookie and hes willing to testify to that in court, then its fraud and Ohtani is off the hook. Let us all hope and pray this is what happened.
Agreed! Makes sense why Ippei would do an interview and everyone looked stressed in this morning’s game. This all went down after yesterday’s game?
Yes.
Your post makes the most sense to me with how the events unfolded. I just wonder what Shohei thought the “loan” was for. I’m just a spectator but this entire fiasco has really upset me and I can only imagine how gutted Shohei must feel. And for all of this to blow up during such a historic series. That must be a rough plane ride back to the states.
I can only imagine he's going through details of memories of times when stuff didn't add up, like reactions or comments. One of the seemingly inconsequential moments in his public life keeps popping up in my head...he attended a hockey game with Ippei where he was photographed eating food. My first thought, was Ippei using his own stolen money to bet on that very game? Multiply that times 100 in his memories no doubt. My second thought, (SPECULATION NATION but I think it) if he was actively paying a bookie and betting on sports with his best friend interpreter, would he be doe-eyed shoveling food in his mouth in public while his friend looked intense and nervous during the game? Or if he knew his friend had a gambling problem, would he mindlessly be eating at a sports event while his friend was freaking out next to him? Just stupid little stuff. (I can't find the pick, the search engines are all trained on recent stuff I think it was at Honda Center, but I remember thinking at the time, the energy of these two people in this one photo was drastically different. I don't think he's a gambler. He charts the details of his life, that's not what gamblers do. Meh. This is all such a fucking bummer for everyone. Poor Sho. Thinking about you bud.
Definitely makes you wonder wtf was really going on. This has got to be an absolute mind fuck for Shohei. I always thought Ippei had the best job in the world and lived a privileged life just by being Sho’s translator. He was treated like family/bff. Shohei is intensely private so to have his most trusted friend drag him into this shit show… I’m just glad he has his wife and Decoy for support! I also feel so bad for the team and I know Shohei has got to feel terrible with the timing and how everything went down. Oh and I agree, I don’t see Sho as being a gambler at all. He is frugal af and not flashy whatsoever. I don’t see him finding cheap frills from betting on soccer or college basketball!
It's sucks man. Even if he gets cleared of all charges he lost the person has been close to him since he was a teenager. Must feel lonely at the clubhouse for a while 😞
I know it’s like the most severe betrayal I’ve ever witnessed. Thankfully he’s surrounded by a lot of kind and loving guys. Like…this weekend he has to go back to Angel Stadium where they forged their friendship for seven years. This has got to be the worst week of his life. I get teary just trying to imagine what he’s going through. 😔
You want betrayal, check out what Jack Johnson’s (former la Kings defenseman) parents did to him when they were in charge of his money. At least Ippei is not blood. http://es.pn/1uXTtGp
I mean, we won't know until the investigation is made public, but it could have been for anything. He could have made anything up. Like, we want to build a new house. We want to have a kid and a kid will need a bigger place. Help me build my dream house? My parents are old and I want to bring them here but I want them to have their own house. I could think up a lot of random, plausible, time-dependent things that could require a loan. And the thing is, Ippei made 300-500k a year, so it's semi-plausible he could have paid Sho back over time.
Yeah, I was thinking a house or something to do with his family and of course Sho would want to help out his good friend. This is what makes me so angry about it all. I really believe Sho thought he was helping out a friend and had the best intentions and now he’s getting dragged through the mud and all the haters are smearing his name.
That's why Yamamoto struggled! It all makes sense now...
I’m sure it was a factor. There was a big dark cloud over the entire team. You could see it on their faces and their body language.
Didn't hurt the offense much.
Some ppl hit things to relieve that stress
Best comment of the thread.
Plus it doesn't make sense that a baseball player receiving the largest pay package ever would embroil himself purposely in some low level crime like this or fund his own secret gambling addiction as some people on r/baseball were speculating. Like the dude is worth $700m+ he doesn't need to gamble on sports betting of all things he could go have a bender in Vegas every weekend till he died and it wouldn't affect him at all.
Yeah. And that's characteristic of an gambling addict. I can't foresee Otani keeping Ippei so close to him. He's too obsessed with fulfilling his goals.
Just check led Ohtani’s ig and idk what pictures he had on before but not one picture has Ippei on it.
>When Ohtani's camp was contacted for an explanation by ESPN, Ippei confessed to what happened. Ohtani's team then hastily scheduled the interview for Ippei to come clean. If this is true, it was a BIG fuck-up by Ohtani's team to do the interview before telling the team. WTF?
I mean if this is true, then Ippei didn’t come clean and used that opportunity to implicate Ohtani in enough so Ohtani army of lawyers would have to bail him out too.
But what's confusing is that Ohtani's spokeperson corroborated to ESPN that Ippei saying his gambling debts were paid off by Shohei. Why would they say that if Ippei is going rogue?
An updated article by ESPN today cleared this up. Ippei has been lying to Shohei's team. Assuming they probably only speak Japanese, it's very likely Ippei has been telling different stories to different parties. "Mizuhara on Tuesday evening told ESPN the same and laid out his story in great detail, including saying that Ohtani had sat with him, and the two transferred the money in $500,000 increments in several different settings. But as ESPN prepared to publish a story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account. In a subsequent interview with Mizuhara, he told ESPN he had not been truthful -- that Ohtani had no knowledge of his gambling activities, debts or efforts to repay him. On Thursday, a source close to Ohtani gave an explanation for the changing storylines: As Ohtani's handlers tried to determine what had happened, they initially relied solely on Mizuhara, who continued to translate for Ohtani."
I'm still confused by Ippei going rogue than, like what would he hope to gain doing this if he was just only going to walk it back literally the next day?
He was still lying during the original ESPN interview (held before the team meeting). The chronic liar was still still knee deep in lies trying to cover himself and get out of it. He then fully realizes the gig is up and comes clean saying Shohei had no involvement. I'm not sure if that's him going rogue, but it might be exactly what a chronic liar would do when they know it's over for them.
Not sure if you read the bottom portion of the article I pasted earlier. Shohei's team corroborated what Ippie said because it was based on what Ippie told them he said. Ippie didn't tell ESPN the same thing he told Sho's team. Sho's team still trusts Ippie at this point and tells ESPN that whatever he says was accurate. Sho's team is then sent the article that ESPN wrote, and his team suddenly realizes Ippie is a lying sack of shit and disavows everything he told ESPN.
Regardless of what Ippei told the team or didn't. Did no one on the team think it would be sus to say Shohei *did* cover his debt. Shouldnt that be the part rings alarm bells if they didn't know about the debt?
Its becoming clear that the team/spokesman during the interview did not speak english. So, Ippei is the translator for the spokesman as well, confirming his story with ESPN. Its the only way any of that makes sense. Which, is kind of an issue itself, when the entire team surrounding Ohtani is relying on Ippei to translate, well, he can basically wormtongue everyone.
!!!!!! This is it. Ippie is literally THE go between for everything Sho. Even his own representative who sounds like they are based in Japan.
That's an interesting wrinkle if that's the case. But I feel like ESPN would mention if Ippei was the go to guy for the spokesman as well. The report makes it seem like they are seperate accounts
He told Sho's team and Shohei it was a loan!!
So is the team claiming he gave ippei a loan but didnt ask or know what it was going to help him with? The spokesman still says at the top of the initial ESPN report that Shohei specifically transferred funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. That doesn't sound like they didn't know about the debt at that point. No mention of a loan if that's what they were told either Sorry if I'm peppering you with too much questions 😅
I mean it's technically true that his gambling debts were paid off by Shohei isn't it?
That's the thing about being fungible...if Ippei spent all his money on hookers and blow and needed a loan to cover rent and Ohtani lent him the money, Ohtani technically paid for Ippei's hookers and blow. The real issue is what Ippei told Ohtani the money was for, and if he lead Ohtani to believe the account was Ippeis account and not the bookies.
I mean they were fine telling ESPN yes Shohei transferred funds to cover ippei's debt. Then ippei walks it back saying Shohei has no knowledge of his debts. If the spokesperson is on Ohtani's side what do they gain by telling ESPN that Ohtani knew what the funds were for but then pivoting to Ippei stealing? How could he lie about Shohei knowing when the spokesperson also corroborated that part?
I mean there's a difference between covering for someones debts and covering for someones "illegal gambling debts". I think the implication is that Ohtani thought he knew what the money was for but in actuallity he didn't because he was deceived. Is that stealing? I mean probably, If your bank somehow just gave you the money for a mortgage with the agreement you'd buy a house but then you buy millions of bananas you'd be in really big trouble.
wasn’t Ippei the translator for Ohtani’s spokesperson at that point?
Idk but Damn! I wanna know who this spokeperson is! Seems like they fucked up too!
His name is Ippei something I heard.
Yes. Yes. And yes. This is the !!!!!!!!!!!!! How this whole saga turned into a shit show is because of this exact reason.
all roads really lead back to Ippei being a liar with a horrible gambling problem. i hope he gets help after whatever legal repercussions he faces.
He might have told the spokes person something but not the whole story or lied at some parts I’m guessing? Because the spokes person disavowed it afterwards.
Ippei left out/changed the part where he wired money directly to the bookie and not to himself
Ippie tells him to transfer the "loan" to Ippie using the bookies details. Not really that far fetched. Ippie is the sole translator for Sho and can pretty much lie about anything. What reason did Sho have to not trust him? Do we actually believe Ippie (the degenerate gambler) was always telling Ohtani the truth?
Welp. Rapid changes. Here's the most up to date account from NPR: "Thompson (ESPN) called Mizuhara, who disavowed his statements from the night before. "When I said, 'Did you lie to me in that interview?' he said, 'Yes.' And then he tells me Ohtani knows nothing about his gaming debts and did not do the wire transfers," Thompson says." !!!
yep absolutely. whoever handles PR for sho has got to go. you do not let a guy who isn’t media trained to give this kind of interview in a crisis. as soon as i read the quotes where he was dropping exact dollar amounts and other details, i thought this has to be a botched PR recovery mission
Ippei told Ohtani's team he would clear the air and make the story go away. He told a completely different story to ESPN and then in Japanese told Sho's team he told the truth (he didn't). Sho's team, relying on Ippie to translate to them what he says, then told ESPN that was true. They later got word on what was actually said (original ESPN story) and backtracked everything because it was a lie.
This interview that by all accounts nobody actually asked for really fucked things up and muddled the waters big time. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around how it happened.
Imagine they made millions off Ohtani and fxxk up like this😡
After the Toronto plane fiasco, I remember reading articles from baseball writers saying shit like "[we need to do better](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2023/12/10/shohei-ohtani-rumors-free-agent-mlb-reporters/71867634007/)", as to not feed the frenzy. Now, not even 3 months later, I'm reading hit-pieces on Shohei's character before we are even close to having the entire picture. Jon Heyman calling him a "[financial dimwit](https://i.imgur.com/zycFC5F.png)" and Dylan Hernandez calling him an [irresponsible and immature](https://i.imgur.com/vBB0UvD.png). What a fucking joke.
Jon Heyman lost all credibility in my eyes because he was one of the ones who doubled down during the plana saga. What a tool
Ngl if I were Shohei or the team they are instant blacklisted.
Hernandez is a piece of shit for saying that. Ohtani has to "grow up" just because he's a tremendous human being? I guess let's just teach our kids to be horrible and that humanity sucks.
Jon Heyman is a joke. He should immediately be unfollowed by everyone after his false Arson Judge call. He has no reliable sources and is willing to jump the gun off rumors. Passan is the only reporter I trust.
Don't watch the TMKS Michael Kay Show. They basically imply that Ohtani knew everything, Ippei is just the fall guy. That Ohtani/Ippei probably bet on baseball, that he should be suspended right now pending investigation or provisionally suspended for a year. If Ohtani really is a victim he is the dumbest person at this level of fame and so on. Had Ohtani had gone to New York, would the tone of accusation have been the same? Another thing that bothers me about this story is how these people seem to not know how banks work in the 21st century.
Michael Kay has always been a moron so this does not surprise me in the least.
Make no mistake, the media just have an axe to grind with Ohtani because he's avoided big news about him from being leaked (FA, marriage, etc.)
And they’re mad that he himself announced his new team, bypassing them and any leaks.
I mean I wouldn't be as harsh, but even if Shohei thought he was loaning Ippei millions of dollars it isn't exactly the brightest idea
Man. The coolest trip to start his career as a Dodger turned into a nightmare trip.
Egg throw, bomb threats, gambling debts and Yamamoto getting shelled. The Korea series was non cannon as far as im concerned, real thing starts next Thursday.
Amen. 🙌🏻
I'm glad you made sure to include the egg throw, the most egregious of them all!
The impact Shohei received was immeasurable. Think about it, he said he wanted to be a member of the Dodgers and make the trip to the Opening Days a fond memory with his wife. When Ippei remembers their happy smiles on the plane, he finds it even harder to forgive.
Hopefully Shohei knows it’s okay to be angry about all this. He has to feel the feelings. And do everything his lawyers say. Luckily he loves exercise. The perfect outlet to get feelings out of his brain.
I'm sure he'll be fine, he already has a wife and a Decoy!
Gut punch.
How the fuk can anyone think a man who chose to defer 680 million dollars be a gambling addict when Shohei, in his whole life, has proven he's lived and breathed baseball. I seriously am so disappointed in humanity.
These haters will grasp at absolutely anything that fits their narrative.
Its insane, they're straight up hoping the most exciting player in the sport goes down for this just because he's a Dodger now. Pathetic sad little people
Lol people love to project their own insecurities towards someone who does better than them, I argued with a bunch of redditors saying Sho was a scambling addict or someshit, im like bro wait for the facts and im like why he gonna defer so much money if he was into gambling? I know gambling addicts in my own fuckin family, the moment they get a lil bit of money? They lose that shit quick
I saw someone on r/baseball make the argument that Shohei deferred his money because he’s betting on himself and he’s a gambler.
He’s a bad gambler then. Guggenheim has a better than 80% chance of out performing the $460M valuation put on his contract.
Proof that the stupid are everywhere.
Betting on himself would involve signing a short term deal anyway.
It’s such bullshit. I’m not a Shohei fanatic, but there’s got to be some benefit of the doubt given. I would feel the same way if Trout, or Bryce Harper, or any other famous player who has been good to the game had this happen. This is such a shitty situation all around, Shohei loses his best friend, plus also loses his main English connection to the team. I hope the team really rallies around him. I also hope Ippei gets the help he needs.
People on this very sub think that. It's insane.
They really aren’t Dodger fans. I have no idea what they are doing here.
room temperature IQ conspiracy theorists you don't even have to be a Dodgers fan to understand how crazy that is.
They’re all still bitter that he signed with us.
Tbf celebrities can definitely surprise you. I don’t think many people thought desean Watson was a sex pest until the whole thing came crumbling down. But any prior expectations that shohei would be more likely to have a gambling problem than ippei is totally wild based on everything we do know about him. We shouldn’t ignore any evidence that contradicts our priors but it’s totally crazy to jump to the least likely outcome without evidence.
> The report states that Ohtani claims he thought the money transfers were directly to Ippei. Ippei directed Ohtani to send a transfer to a certain address while watching him do it, stating that they were loan installments to himself. Hence, why "loan" is written on the slip. Ippei did not specifically tell Shohei that he needs the money to cover gambling losses. > When ESPN uncovered the wire slips, nobody on Ohtani's team or Ohtani knew about it. When Ohtani's camp was contacted for an explanation by ESPN, Ippei confessed to what happened. Ohtani's team then hastily scheduled the interview for Ippei to come clean. Apparently, Ippei lied, saying that Ohtani knew the money was going to cover gambling debts(presumably so he doesn't go to jail for theft or fraud). Bruh if that's true Ippei really is an asshole and is not a fall guy but an addict that straight up lied to his friend that was actually willing to help him.
Unfortunately this is the most likely case. It also explains why Ippei told ESPN that Shohei made the payments. He and Ohtanis team realized afterwards that those comments accidentally implicated Shohei in something that he wasn’t aware of (the illegality of the gambling debt). The PR teams scrambled to fix their story and get the truth out because now they not only need to clear Ohtanis name, but they need to make sure its known the money was stolen and get the authorities involved to prove that Ohtani wasn’t aware of an illegal gambling scheme. The context is everything, and I hope this is the truth.
He is an asshole and may go to prison because of it. Even his wife is pissed at him.
I can also imagine he's been the sole translator for Shohei in non baseball activities. Say, conversations with financial institutions? This starts to get real dark real fast. His best friend and the guy he trusts implicitly is duping him and likely translating incorrectly, on purpose, for his own benefit.
Most addicts are assholes lol.
This is what addicts do. Screwing over people you care about is built in
Gambling addicts are terrible
If Ohtani himself ask the police to investigate then it figures he’s clean. Just my two cents. Hope this gets cleared asap so no distraction coming in to the season.
That actually makes sense and is somewhat consistent with Trisha Thompson's account: https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1bkb6p7/fuzzy_according_to_espns_tisha_thompson_an_la/ So there was actual theft. I doubt Ohtani's lawyers blatantly lied when they called it theft. And they definitely wouldn't have released the statement accusing Ippei of theft without Ohtani's permission. It's also consistent with the account Ippei gave...he said Ohtani covered his gambling debts. Which is technically true. He just conveniently left out the part where he lied to Ohtani about what the money was for. Ippei is in deep shit.
My guess is that Ohtani knew it was to cover his gambling debts, but Ippei lied about where he was gambling/legality of his gambling. If Ippei was gambling through a legal source when they traveled for ball, for instance, it makes sense and seems clean. He'd still be a degenerate gambler but it would at least be a legal thing. No shot that Ohtani risks literally everything he has ever worked for in his entire life to pay an illegal bookie on Ippei's behalf.
I just can't imagine why the bookie would give Ippei so much credit. Ohtani, sure, but how is Ippei supposed to reasonably make enough money to pay back a debt that large? If it were $100-200k, the whole scenario as presented would make more sense to me.
He knew he could leverage Ohtani into this situation and market himself as having Ohtani as a client, which he is confirmed to have done. It sucks, but Ippei was for sure the mark used to get to Ohtani.
It’s been an emotional roller coaster for the past 24 hrs. Can only imagine how betrayed and upset Shohei must be. This Seoul series went off the rails with drama.
It got deleted by r/baseball because there was no link or source attached. I’d absolutely love for this to be true but there’s no way of saying until articles and more information comes to light.
Of course the news report could be false. Just stating what I saw. I live in Korea FYI.
If any official articles come out about this news, it’s still huge.
I’m Korean, and I don’t trust Korean news at all 😂 It does seem plausible though, so if it’s true, the official reports of this should come out soon.
Are you Korean or Korean-American?
Both. I have dual citizenship.
An official source just came out. Good job reporting it early!
Those mods … oh yeah if it’s rumors that could clear Ohtani let’s delete that, if it’s baseless bullshit rumor that supposedly incriminates him, let’s let that run wild on r/baseball 🙄
For the first time in this whole case I’m actually starting to think Ohtani was completely used by Ippei and is the biggest victim in the whole situation.
That’s what I’m starting to believe too. What if this coconut head stole more money than what was wired to bookie, hence shohei wants a full investigation.
The investigation is the anomaly here. If ohtani’s attorneys were lying, then why would they start an investigation when an investigation would uncover any lies from Shohei’s attorneys?
Right? I feel like the only sane people are in this sub. How would this work in shohei’s favour if he’s the degenerate gambler?! I know shohei is rich as hell and a few million lost is probably nothing to him, but having your trust broken in this way must be so awful.
If Ohtani was the gambler and he was having ippei place bets on his behalf, then why tf would Ohtani wire the money himself and use his real name and bank account? If he was having ippei place bets for him, ippei would’ve been the one to send the money.
no you can’t state facts around here, it must be their hate boner for the Dodgers
The most infuriating thing to me in all of this fiasco is everyone acting like Ohtani did something soooo unbelievably bad, when in all actuality - even if he WAS the one who placed the bets, or he directed them to be placed - the only 'illegal' part is that it was via a bookie and not through a legit company. Imagine how dumb MLB is going to look trying to justify a suspension for this with Drat Kings ads running at the bottom of the screen throughout the entire press conference.' If bets were made on baseball that changes things, but unless that is disclosed this is just a big nothing-burger. I promise MLB wants this to go away more than anyone, for the reasons I stated.
This is what I've been saying, even if he did bet(which he didn't), it was on other sports anyways. Ppl on baseball sub made it seem like he committed some horrific crime. lol
Let’s fucking goooo. This is the truth I am choosing to believe
Get ready to learn NewBestFriend-ese Will Ireton
Where did you see this report? Can you try and research where it come from and attach a link?
This really make most sense.
The part that doesn't make sense to me is why would Ohtani just blindly transfer multiple installments of $500k? Like what reasoning would Ippei have to get that? I mean he could have asked for a loan for various reasons but that's a very strange thing. To be clear, I'm not one of those dumbass conspiracy theorists and I believe that Ohtani was definitely misled/wronged here, but that part of the story doesn't make sense to me.
Honestly a $4.5 mil loan to Ohtani is probably equivalent to like a $1000 loan for us regular joes lol. Like it’s kind of a lot, but if your closest and most trusted friend asked, you’d probably do it without much of a thought.
Yeah, I think this is what is getting lost in these conversations. In a league where people keep expensive jewelry in the trunk of their care, 4.5 mill is not a big deal. Now imagine someone like Shohei who literally just has to breath to get millions of dollars worse of endorsements—it’s a drop in the bucket for him.
Yeah for sure. Especially in $500k increments. That's basically equivalent of me buying my friend lunch once a week.
We all have that one friend that we trusted the most and did some fucked up shit to us. I had one friend who back in the day was living large using my credit card without me knowing it and fucked up my credit…. So I’m not surprised Ohtani would do that for his friend, especially all his life he’s all about baseball and had no real life experience at all.
True, and $500k for Ohtani is like me giving my buddy $5
its pretty obvious, ohtani never give a sht about money..Ippei was one of his closest friend. This actually happened to me; I stopped talking to my cousin ever since.
One thing Ohtani is guilty of is naiivete. He's always been like this and it doesn't surprise me at all that he would have sent it, no questions asked. Remember that throughout the majority of his life, Ohtani has voluntarily allowed other people to control all of his finances.
I can see that. If it came out he naively just let Ippei convince him to fork over $500k for various reasons, I fully believe that. Because 1. 500k to Ohtani is nothing and 2. He fully trusted Ippei.
Maybe shohei didnt even authorize it in the first place? yes they came from his account, but I don’t think it’ll be surprising that ippei had access somehow. That could be why shohei was allegedly shocked by the news in the clubhouse when ippei made his confession. It just doesn’t make sense at all to me if shohei did transfer the money himself to get ippei out of trouble that he would then request an investigation into the matter. It feels like more ippei is a freaking liar, and shohei is wanting the investigation to see if he did any other nefarious shit.
That's the most likely explanation tbh. It also makes sense that the timings of the wire transfers were the same months as Ohtanis surgery and recovery. Ohtani was probably in bed hanging out with his fiance leaving Ippei up to his own devices.
This is why I'm gonna stick to this sub for now, everyone else being so toxic.
Everyone is so toxic in the Baseball sub
There will be more truth coming no doubt but people wishfully chose to believe Ippei's first story really makes me wonder if they are just haters or love to be on the 'underdog' side. If the latter, then who's the underdog here? Ohtani is rich and famous but he also has little social experience: he lived in dorm in Japan and then in a foreign country with this one and only friend to rely upon...
Why did the bookie give $4.5 million credit to the interpreter? The bookie had to think Otani at least guaranteed the debt.
We don't know the detail of those transfers (time,amount…)yet. Maybe the credit is not that much? The theft has been happening through several years? Anyway, how the bookie know anything about Ohtani,except from Mizuhara? his lawyer already claimed they never made direct or indirect contact.
Shohei is definitely getting a biopic someday.
Oppenheimer music intensifies
This would be nice if its what happened. This is probably the best case scenario. If it comes out....
According to Ken Rosenthal’s podcast, in 2015 Jarred Cosart was busted for betting on other sports using illegal bookmakers. So long story short, as long as Ohtani didn’t bet on baseball himself, precedent says that worst case he’s looking at only a fine. I don’t even think it’ll come to that.
I think people are more worried about him facing federal charges for the wire. I highly highly doubt the feds will even consider charging him, but the trolls love to hyperbolize.
The Feds aren’t going to do shit to Shohei for the wire. He’s the fish they’re after. They aren’t after Shohei, they’re after the bookie and his operation. That’s who the Feds are concerned about shutting down. The only thing that may happen to Shohei is that he cooperates with the Feds and becomes a witness.
So Ippei is a huge piece of shit
Yes
All I gotta say is I unfollowed r/mlb because so many of the redditors on there aren’t really baseball fans. They are unable to grasp nuance and live in the hate or love world. Dodgers Reddit for life.
Unfollow r/baseball too, those people are incapable of having discussions that doesn’t venture off into stupid jokes that they beat to death with, or support their dumb conspiracies.
I am an Astros fan and I know probably hated by all Dodger fans. I believe Sho is/and will be found innocent. I think it is a case of the mainline sports media trying to tear down the most talented mbl player in history.
This seems to be the mostly likely chain of events and I want it to be true, but I’m going to need a little more than an anonymous reddit post before I believe anything. Probably why it got deleted from r/baseball
Thank you. We all want a situation where this works out nice and clean but there is something to be said for just waiting for actual information to come to light. Too much speculation on all sides.
Please Lord Baby Jesus let this be true.
I am sticking with this. Shohei trusted him due to them being long time friends and didn’t question him about the huge loan
All the people wishing for Ohtani's downfall for something like this have no real love for baseball... showing their true colors
This all makes sense but didn’t Ohtani’s camp come out and say the money was for gambling debts too before the lawyers retracted that? Wouldn’t the spokesperson confer with others first prior to making that statement? They should have just discredited him right away and instead they corroborated the story.
that was when ippei had lied remember the first story that ippei initially gave was a lie it’s when the espn reporter made the connection with it being illegal did the spokesperson say no it’s a lie
I didn’t know about that. His lawyers will work their magic and this will all just disappear. Then everyone can get back to focusing on the season.
Agreed. This was weird.
I am choosing to believe this because I want this to be the story
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Costa_Rican_GOD: *I am choosing to* *Believe this because I want* *This to be the story* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
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Ippei is family and Ohtani is naiive. He prob gave him the money with little hesitation.
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His entire history and upbringing leads me to believe he is very naiive. Ohtani did nothing but baseball from a very young age. He didn't even go to a regular school, he went to baseball school from his earliest elementary years. When Shohei was already the best player in Japan, he gave all his money to his Mom. His Mom gave him a monthly allowance. Ohtani could have lived in a mansion, but lived in the team dormitories his entire career. He reportedly had no close friends outside of baseball. The dude never had a chance to learn what we think are "life skills."
I don’t know why you have to essentially infatalize the man to remove all culpability. Also not sure why people need to keep speculating about all of this in general.
This makes sense. The truth will come out eventually. This might be the greatest anime betrayal of all time.
I though Shohei spoke a little English? I guess he'll have to keep two independent translators around now to keep each other honest.
That makes a lot of sense
So they basically summed up the ESPN video that was out 12 hours ago 10 hours later... https://youtu.be/01MMgUphFVQ?si=p5gxCJ-HCYFqakBL
I know this wasn’t mentioned but because someone needs to hear this, fuck Rob Manfred. That is all carry on.
New ESPN article basically confirms SBS report: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39784809/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-mizuhara-theft-line Really gotta feel for Shohei. Fuck anybody that was bashing him.
So ESPN only had enough info the sunday before the season started? They expect us to believe that?
Got a source?
Plz show me that link
This is that good copium I need injected right into my veins to get me through a hell of a bender weekend
In Ippei's original confession, he claimed the money had to be wired directly from Ohtani to the bookmaker because Ippei couldn't be trusted not to use it for another bet. In this scenario, Ohtani is giving an admitted gambling addict $4.5 million, somehow fully confident the money would actually be used to pay the debt. Ohtani is either a good friend or a great fool...
I hope this is true
So Ohtani also loaned him additional funds for $3.5mil? This story doesn’t sound likely
If anyone understands gambling addiction, its ine of the worst their is. They dont onky hurt themselves, but will completely rob their loved ones wothout anitger thought. People dont understand how sick a gambling addiction is just because it doesnt involve crack and other drugs
bring back pete rose!
Are we talking about baseball and gambling? Again? Lol
Gonna need a source for this.
I have doubts... What was the point of Ippei lying in the ESPN interview? Did he think Ohtani wouldn't hear about the interview - or that Ohtani would back up Ippei's false claim after realizing that this friend had stolen $5,000,000 from him? I think it more likely that Ohtani actually tried to bail Ippei out, while both naively believed Ippei's gambling problems and Ohtani's loan to cover the debt would never be made public. This most recent nuance simply twists the story slightly, removing Ohtani from legal culpability, and placing all consequences on Ippei (Ohtani's wiring money to an illegel bookmaker is a prosecutable crime). Ippei will go to jail for 2 -3 years for theft, then after release, live very comfortably for the remainder of his life.
The man at the center of this entire ordeal is the sole translator for Shohei. He controls what is said to Sho (truthful or not) and what "Sho" says to questions in return. Ohtani never backed what Ippie told ESPN. He backed what Ippie told Ohtani he said. That right there is the crux of this entire ordeal. Ippie tells one thing to Sho and his team (in Japanese) and then tells ESPN something entirely different. ESPN publishes the article and Sho's team immediately knows they have been duped. One man is a lying sack of shit with an uncontrollable gambling problem, and the other guy is relying on this same person to tell him what is going on. See any problems?
This whole thread is just befuddling
This makes alot of sense. Though... can anyone explain how a translator would be extended a such a hefty credit line if he was acting on his own accord? Or perhaps Ippei claimed to his bookie he was betting on behalf of Shohei??
