shohei ohtani alert

Worth noting that the MD who performed the surgery is the Head Team Physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Same doc who just worked on Aaron Rodgers as well.

he does all the big stars now that james andrews is in his 80s

xps yeah Dr Robert Anderson is the foot equivalent for a ton of teams as well

the lebron james of elbows

https://archive.ph/xmD9b

not quite the takedown i was expecting but still a good read

I'm not sure what you were expecting, I think the Angels got eviscerated in that piece. What a backwards, messed up organization.

The Angels now offer meals in spring training, and for all its flaws, the minor-league facility at least has an indoor weight room.

Shohei ohtani is now married ❤️

Rumors have it his wife is Mamiko Tanaka, former basketball star.

大谷翔平さんの結婚相手と噂の、元女子バスケットボール選手の田中真美子さん。

身長180cmの美女だ.ᐟ
でもどうなんだろ…動画は同一人物？

一般女性だと思ってたが…元バスケ選手
今日の囲み取材楽しみだねー

大谷の嫁になったらデコピンと遊べるw
もしそうならお似合いだなー https://t.co/V1mkYoRi7T pic.twitter.com/P5V3OYPAPB

— rila 𓍯りら (@rila_rila_ka) February 29, 2024

I'm happy not knowing. Guy obviously taking measures to keep his private life private, impressive he's been able to keep things under wraps so well with his stature.

What the fuck!

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

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.

In a statement, the West Hollywood law firm Berk Brettler, said, “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.”

Attempts to reach Mizuhara were unsuccessful. Mizuhara placed bets with Bowyer, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to share sensitive information.

The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Mizuhara, a team spokesman said.

Everything happens to him!

And on that bombshell

SEOUL, South Korea — Police in South Korea were investigating a bomb threat on Wednesday against baseball star Shohei Ohtani, who is in Seoul for Major League Baseball’s first regular-season games in the country.

They were alerted by the South Korean Consulate in Vancouver, which received an email written in English threatening to bomb the 18,000-seat Gocheok Sky Dome in the South Korean capital, where Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers are playing the San Diego Padres.

The Dodgers’ trip to Asia has drawn legions of fans, with Ohtani the headline act.

After searching with sniffer dogs, X-ray detectors and other equipment, police said no sign of a bomb had been found and that they were providing additional security at the season opener on Wednesday, which is reportedly sold out.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/shohei-ohtani-bomb-threat-mlb-baseball-south-korea-rcna144197

This story is insane

https://www.espn.co.uk/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft

Ippei Mizuhara, the longtime friend and interpreter for Ohtani, incurred the gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation, multiple sources told ESPN. How he came to lose his job started with reporters asking questions about the wire transfers.

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.

The spokesman declined to answer any further questions, and the statement did not specify whom they believe perpetrated the alleged theft.

When asked by ESPN on Wednesday afternoon -- after the Berk Brettler statement -- if he had been accused of theft, Mizuhara said he was told he could not comment but declined to say by whom.

After Ohtani agreed to pay the debts, Mizuhara said on Tuesday, Ohtani logged onto his own computer and sent the wire transfers under Mizuhara's supervision in installments over several months last year. They added "loan" to the description field in the transactions.

"We had to add a description for the wire," Mizuhara said. "I think Matt (Bowyer)might have told me to just put 'loan.' You had to put something."

Asked why Ohtani didn't simply give him the money instead of paying Bowyer's associate directly, Mizuhara said Ohtani didn't trust him with the money.

"He didn't want me to gamble it away," Mizuhara said.

Mizuhara said he told Ohtani he would pay him back.

When an ESPN reporter asked Ohtani's camp about the allegation from Mizuhara that Ohtani was present and helped move the funds and that he was going to be paid back, the spokesman contacted Ohtani's attorneys, who then issued the statement saying he was the victim of a "massive theft."

Mizuhara, though, Wednesday afternoon, walked back much of what he had said late Tuesday, saying Ohtani had no knowledge of his gambling activities, debts or efforts to repay them.

"Obviously, this is all my fault, everything I've done," he said. "I'm ready to face all the consequences."

He said he did not have legal representation but was "working on it." He said he spoke with ESPN Wednesday afternoon on his own free will.

He reiterated, though, that he had never bet on baseball.

lol

but not even the biggest scandal in japan headlines today if you can believe that.

:(

xp it’s going to be really bad for Ippei in Japan, he’s nearly as famous as Ohtani himself

From last month:

Gambler Matt Bowyer, whose Cali home was raided by federal agents last month, the same day his @ResortsWorldLV
host's phone was seized by feds, is being represented by Irvine federal criminal defense attorney Diane Bass, a source confirms.
11:00 AM · Nov 16, 2023

This is tied to a federal investigation and Ippei got mixed up with the wrong dudes. Yikes.

"Shohei Otani" is visible alongside various bank account and wire-transfer information and the word "loan."

I've seen enough, this thread needs to get locked and the other thread needs to be resurrected:

let's get excited about...shohei otani

Definitely fishy that Ippei's story keeps changing though, smells like there will be more news to come...

Why would Ohtani’s spokespeople arrange an interview with ESPN with one story and then he walks it back the next day and they publish both?’

*dons tinfoil hat*

Ok, let's say Ippei is the fall guy and Ohtani got outed by the Feds who let the MLB know and then MLB/LAD agree that his punishment is Ohtani's contract gets structured so that he doesn't earn $fuckyoumoney until 2033 when he's matured and grown out of some irresponsible bad habits...

...

...

Or can’t gamble it away

conspiracy.gif

Damn that's some real tinfoiling. I love it

I don’t know anything about the actual gambling aspect of it, is it feasible one could use a dodgy bookmaker and think it’s legit? Though maybe you have to go to a dodgy one to lose that much money?

Welcome to the podcast, we're going to be talking about Shohei's gambling scandal today... first a bit of business.. we have new merch sponsored by DraftKings

rules for thee but not for me

Let the man bet on himself, he's making peanuts! He's got a wife and dog to feeed!

if he was betting on the Angels he probably needs the $700 mil

You’ll recall that he deferred it for ten years so he can’t…even if he wanted to…which he definitely doesn’t

shohei: yeah I'll just take 2mil right now, I'll make the rest through..... "endorsements" ;)

league is kind of in a no win situation here, if they sweep it under the rug people will say they're playing favorites with their marquee player, if they punish him while still running 500 Fanduel ads on every broadcast it looks even dumber

there are layers. if he's betting on other sports, off of team facilities, it's a lenient suspension. if he's betting on other sports on team facilities, it's a more serious suspension. if he's betting on baseball, or worse yet, betting on baseball games involving himself, that's when it gets real

Players can't bet on other sports off of team facilities? Sure about that?

Frogs otm

There is nothing worse for baseball than gambling. That's what I've always said, and that's what I'll say when I'm podcasting in the DraftKings Sports Podcast Booth in the Luxor Level of the Las Vegas A's stadium.

— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) March 20, 2024

Shohei Ohtani has always bet on himself – and it’s about to reap huge rewards.https://t.co/dWeOtJbVjQ

— CNN (@CNN) July 11, 2023

omg

Pretty big (5.3M) quake just hit Tokyo, what are the odds?

Players can't bet on other sports off of team facilities? Sure about that?

that's the nfl rule, i think

Pretty big (5.3M) quake just hit Tokyo, what are the odds?

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, March 20, 2024 9:33 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

ippei had 25-1 on 6.0 or bigger

Omg

Haven't caught up yet, so I know very little. Except: someone will be popping up any minute to re-litigate his HOF case.

Clem:

Sports betting is illegal in California
Mathew Bowyer, an illegal bookie in Orange County, is under investigation from the FEDs/IRS
4 months ago Bowyer's house was raided and his assets and devices were seized
LA Times FOIA'd the docs and noticed two $500k wires from "Shohei Otani" in the wire-transfer data both with the line item comment "loan"
LA Times reported that $4.5M was wired from Shohei's account to Bowyer or his various associates

Ippei Mizuhara is a Japanese-American interpreter for Shohei Ohtani
His salary is ~$300k/yr from the LAD, up from ~$200k/yr from the LAA

Ippei Mizuhara gave an interview yesterday where he admitted he had a massive gambling problem and he claimed to ask Shohei to repay his debts
Ippei claimed Shohei did the wire transfers himself from his password-protected personal computer because he did not trust Ippei with the money

Later yesterday, Mizuhara gave ANOTHER interview in which he denied Shohei had any involvement in the wire-transfers and had no knowledge of Ippei's gambling debts

Ohtani's lawyers come out with a statement that Mizuhara stole $4.5M from Ohtani

LAD fire Mizuhara

I will defer to the lovely felicity redwell on all things legal, but I am willing to wager (😉) sending wire transfers for illegal activity under false pretense ("loan") is not looked upon favorably by federal investigators.

so you see, your honour, i allowed my friend to use my computer and that’s why it might LOOK to the layperson that i visited those websites myself

Oh no tani

i know they were best buds but would ippei really have access not only to shohei’s computer but to his bank accounts containing millions of dollars and the presumably somewhat elaborate verification steps involved in moving that amount of money?? cmon man

I'm curious who the Ohtani "representative" is who made Ippei available for interviews.

if it really was that amount of money i suppose it is possible that the bookies were laying down some heavy threats and shohei really did cover the loss, the first story was correct, and ippei’s trying to protect his friend by telling the second story because he now realises how much hot water the first story puts shohei in. sorry just catching up lol

more reportage, although not much news other than that everyone on the dodgers feels very awkward right now

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/03/21/shohei-ohtani-interpreter-scandal/

share/free link: https://wapo.st/4ctET2H

...Thinking it might be best if Ohtani decided that for himself, reporters asked him if he had a moment to speak as he turned and headed out of the clubhouse. Dodgers staffers instead requested they clear the way, as Ohtani walked out of the room, saying a Japanese phrase reporters translated as “have a good night” as he departed.

“I hope the situation — I hope Sho is good,” his teammate Mookie Betts said, when asked about how the situation affected his team Thursday. “At the end of the day, we have to take care of our jobs … no matter what cards we’re dealt, we’ve gotta go play ’em.”