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My take is that Shohei knew about his interpreter's massive gambling debts and gave the interpreter his own money to cover the debts. Can that be considered gambling by the MLB? I doubt it if that was the case, as Shohei didn't gamble himself. I'm sure the Ohtani camp 'persuaded' the interpreter to take the fall for this one in the eyes of the public (I don't believe the interpreter's latest story that Ohtani knew nothing about this money).
Representatives of Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday accused his interpreter of engaging in a “massive theft” of the ballplayer’s funds to place bets with an allegedly illegal bookmaker who is the target of a federal investigation.
Lawyers for Ohtani made that claim after The Times learned that Ohtani’s name had surfaced in the investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an Orange County resident. Ohtani’s representatives looked into the actions of the interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, in response to The Times’ queries, a source close to the matter said. Two sources told the newspaper that the money involved was in the millions of dollars.
My take is that Shohei knew about his interpreter's massive gambling debts and gave the interpreter his own money to cover the debts. Can that be considered gambling by the MLB? I doubt it if that was the case, as Shohei didn't gamble himself. I'm sure the Ohtani camp 'persuaded' the interpreter to take the fall for this one in the eyes of the public (I don't believe the interpreter's latest story that Ohtani knew nothing about this money).
Tiger Woods had his buddy arranging dates.......gambling I guess that his wife wouldn't find out! Oops.
Phil Michelson/John Daly bet over 100 million between them.......
Michael Jordan bets crazy money on all sorts of stuff from his golf to horses/sports.....
Ohtani didn't speak english well enough so he had his interpreter make the bets on his behalf.......
All Pete Rose wants to know is "Did he bet on baseball?"
I don't understand gambling when you are already ridiculously rich! What is the gain because if you are already rich then you don't need the money or "more" money.
Tiger Woods had his buddy arranging dates.......gambling I guess that his wife wouldn't find out! Oops.
Phil Michelson/John Daly bet over 100 million between them.......
Michael Jordan bets crazy money on all sorts of stuff from his golf to horses/sports.....
Ohtani didn't speak english well enough so he had his interpreter make the bets on his behalf.......
All Pete Rose wants to know is "Did he bet on baseball?"
I don't understand gambling when you are already ridiculously rich! What is the gain because if you are already rich then you don't need the money or "more" money.
Yeah.. If this thought isn't running through your head right now..
Is the interpreter taking the fall for Ohtani here? Maybe, maybe not.. But..
Why would they say Ohtani was helping his friend, then say "no, he stole the money, didn't know anything about it"? It's very, very suspicious.
Yeah.. If this thought isn't running through your head right now..
Is the interpreter taking the fall for Ohtani here? Maybe, maybe not.. But..
Why would they say Ohtani was helping his friend, then say "no, he stole the money, didn't know anything about it"? It's very, very suspicious.
per ESPN:
Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail. However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account and said Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement
"In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities," read the statement from Berk Brettler LLP.
Call me crazy, but the truth is something close to what the spokesman said the night before, only question is whose gambling debt it was, Ohtani, or his buddy...........then one of the attorneys read that comment and flipped out, took the night to come up with a lie that will protect the star player, had his interpreter agree to commit financial and career seppuku. ESPN should air that interview with Mizuhara, but I doubt they will.
I don't understand why this Ohtani dude can't speak english.
He has been in this country five years, certainly long enough to learn the language.
I have no sympathy for him.
Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. The spokesman presented Mizuhara to ESPN for a 90-minute interview Tuesday night, during which Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail. However, as ESPN prepared to publish the story Wednesday, the spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's account and said Ohtani's lawyers would issue a statement
"In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities," read the statement from Berk Brettler LLP.
Call me crazy, but the truth is something close to what the spokesman said the night before, only question is whose gambling debt it was, Ohtani, or his buddy...........then one of the attorneys read that comment and flipped out, took the night to come up with a lie that will protect the star player, had his interpreter agree to commit financial and career seppuku. ESPN should air that interview with Mizuhara, but I doubt they will.
I agree with the first part of your comment.. Waffle on the second. We don't know about the second. We can speculate. And it certainly LOOKS bad.. Though.. It's also likely that Ohtani legit just wanted to cover for his buddy, and the lawyers said "Oh, no, the optics!" and did an about face.. Not realizing that the optics of THAT were even worse.
But certainly.. If you're not looking at this side eyed, just a bit at least..
Right now.. We don't kow. That's why I feel there does need to be an investigation to uncover exactly what happened here. Because, apparently.. Nothing was being said until ESPN uncovered this.. I'm sorry, but I find it astoundingly hard to believe that Ohtani doesn't have accountants that would have caught this. There's been any number of pro athletes that have been 'scammed'.. But that's usually by their accountants.
I don't understand why this Ohtani dude can't speak english.
He has been in this country five years, certainly long enough to learn the language.
I have no sympathy for him.
Many times they (meaning foreigners) know phrases and certain conversational words but not a firm grasp of English. In other words, they understand but aren't well versed so it's easier to speak in their native language. Did Puig ever learn or speak English? Just thinking out loud about a player I never heard speak English.
Many times they (meaning foreigners) know phrases and certain conversational words but not a firm grasp of English. In other words, they understand but aren't well versed so it's easier to speak in their native language. Did Puig ever learn or speak English? Just thinking out loud about a player I never heard speak English.
Teams used to hire people who not only acted as interpreters, but also as language instructors. I'm kinda thinking back to Hideo Nomo and seem to recall that being a part of his contract.
But.. The player has to make an effort to learn the language as well. Some.. Never will. Some.. May just not be smart enough to pick up two languages while in their 20's. some may just not have the time to devote. Some may not care.
I hope Shohei wasn't involved in gambling, I really want him to succeed as a player.
Still, this reminds me of the O.J. case where he had his "gardener" (Kato Kaelin) act as a gopher who ran down to Sunset Strip to procure drugs and girls for O.J. and his pals. The use of gophers to do these tasks keeps instantly recognizable celebs from being spotted while involved in sordid activities and allows celebs to have "plausible deniability" to say they are shocked and had no idea that their hired help did such things. I hope this is not the case with Shohei.
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