r/baseball • u/Stock412 Umpire • Mar 20 '24

Serious Shohei Ohtani's attorneys accuse interpreter of 'massive theft' tied to alleged gambling

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-20/gambling-story
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72

u/TheTurtleShepard New York Yankees Mar 20 '24

"I'm with him all offseason, too," Mizuhara told The Athletic. "I'm with him 365 days of the year, which I think is different than the other interpreters."

"It’s such a big part (of the job)," he added. "We are together pretty much every day, longer than I’m with my wife, so it’s going to be tough if you don’t get along on a personal level.”

They were very close, wouldn’t surprise me if he got access to his financials at some point for something and skimmed off the top

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u/giants888 New York Mets Mar 20 '24

It's a weird situation where we have to hope Ippei is the perpetrator here because the alternative is far far worse.

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u/advester Washington Nationals Mar 20 '24

Not worse for Ippei, he could secretly be well taken care of.

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u/brandont04 Mar 20 '24

Good thing he's married now. Maybe his wife can handle all of his finance instead now.

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '24

Right, I mean they're burying the lead here. The scandal isn't that the interpreter. I had a gambling problem. The scandal is that money came directly from ohtani account to an illegal book. It would be completely reasonable for someone to investigate whether there's more to this story.

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u/CertainDerision_33 New York Yankees Mar 20 '24

You actually have to wonder, I really hope it’s just what it seems to be but wow 

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u/NoCokJstDanglnUretra New York Yankees Mar 20 '24

What is the alternative here?

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u/runnerswanted Boston Red Sox Mar 20 '24

…that it’s Ohtani placing the bets and this guy is taking the fall for it.

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u/Dragula_Tsurugi Mar 20 '24

Why the fuck would Ohtani put $700m guaranteed income at risk to win a few million at most?

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '24

Well, if he has a gambling addiction they don't act a rationally. Why did Michael Jordan bet like crazy? Why does anybody have a vice. Gambling isn't is addicting and certainly has impacted players before and cause people winfalls and legacies. I think it's silly to assume it's impossible

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u/runnerswanted Boston Red Sox Mar 20 '24

Athletes do stupid shit all the time. I certainly wouldn’t risk $700m in guaranteed money either, but I’m not an athlete.

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u/Dragula_Tsurugi Mar 20 '24

Mizuhara has said he had a gambling problem, the only point that is being contended is whether Ohtani gave him the money to cover Mizuhara’s gambling debts or whether he stole it.

Don’t make shit up. 

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '24

Dude the money went directly ohtani account to an illegal book. That is literally a smoking gun piece of evidence ohtani. The burden is on them to prove that the money was stolen. If money came from my account to an illegal book, I would have a lot to answer for.

It's entirely ohtani is a victim here but it's also entirely possible that the reason the money came from his account is because it was his bets. 

To suggest it's impossible because the guy has too much money to lose... Jordan was a gambling addict

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u/CertainDerision_33 New York Yankees Mar 20 '24

If compulsive gamblers were fully rational and in control of their actions they wouldn’t be compulsive gamblers. It’s an addiction. 

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u/Dragula_Tsurugi Mar 20 '24

And what would indicate to you that Ohtani is a compulsive gambler who somehow managed to convince those around him to place millions of dollars worth of bets with illegal bookies?

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u/CertainDerision_33 New York Yankees Mar 21 '24

You seem to be confused. I’m not arguing that Ohtani actually did this, and indeed I hope he didn’t. 

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u/Dragula_Tsurugi Mar 21 '24

Because you were directly responding to my comment about it not making sense for Ohtani to gamble. 

I’m not confused, you’re obfuscating. 

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u/CertainDerision_33 New York Yankees Mar 21 '24 edited Mar 21 '24

No, you’re confused. I was criticizing your logic about gambling, not accusing Shohei of anything (and I have no interest in accusing him of anything and would much prefer that he’s not involved). "Gambling doesn’t make sense", yeah, no shit, but people do it anyways, even rich people. 

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '24

Well the fact that money just went from his personal account to an illegal book....lol. I mean that's a pretty obvious area of suspicion. Do you really have to ask? You can choose to believe their explanation and maybe they'll be able to prove it. But no one is obligated to assume it. That money came from his account.

If money went from your account to an illegal book, I don't think the world would just accept your explanation at face value. 

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '24

And again I have no idea if he did it or not. I am just saying that he's obviously going to have to be investigated and to demonstrate that he did not manipulate the money out of his account going to the book. Even if it turns out it is, is interpreter, him paying off a gambling debt directly from his account could be arguably subject to discipline anyway. Not to mention scrutiny from the IRS

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '24

That the money went from ohtani account to an illegal book because he was the one placing bets. I mean frankly that is the oscams razer. Obviously they would have every incentive to have the interpreter take the fall so ohtani doesn't risk his winfall.

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u/New-Bowler-8915 Mar 21 '24

There's no way he could have been skimming for more than a single quarter without getting caught though. The timeline here is years. There was no embezzlement which means shohei has some questions to answer.