Ohtani interpreter
 

Things could get interesting...

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...er-fired-theft

Key paragraph :

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.

Very strange story. I'm trying to think how the interpreter would gain access to large amounts of Ohtani's money. I could see someone trusted stealing possessions they then sold for money, but the news makes it sound like he was spending Ohtani's money.

I suspect the truth is closer to the interpreter's account than the Dodgers' account. Admittedly, I don't know what happened, but it was not until lawyers were consulted that this went from "friend helping a friend out of trouble" to embezzlement/theft. If the interpreter was embezzling millions of dollars from his friend/meal ticket, I doubt he would agree to sit down for a two hour interview with the press where he effectively admitted he took Ohtani's money and used it as his own, unless he knew Ohtani had knowledge and consented to it.

The skeptic in me thinks perhaps Ohtani and his buddy were collectively gambling on non-baseball (thinking it was OK or at least "don't ask, don't tell") with the interpreter handling the transactions, and then when it got discovered, created a cover story which would theoretically wall off Ohtani from culpability. When the lawyers got involved and saw that the contrived story was not enough to wall off Ohtani, they created the new story, with the interpreter taking the fall.

Every thread needs a "card"

I bet there is more to this story…


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Let me be the first one……
 

Say it ain’t so , Oh!!!!!

Manfred needs to suspend Ohtani until they get to the bottom of this…..even if it takes years! :p

Amazing, that made me laugh out loud Rob.

Although...

I think that Mizuhara was communicating his bets thru Blake Snell and Logan Webb on alternating days, who then passed them on to either Camilo Doval or Patrick Bailey depending on which alternating day they were on, who then themselves went thru either Yaz, Conforto so it sounds like all eight men should be out until Manfred can pull an Astrogate and ultimately suspend Dave Roberts and probably Bob Melvin and let the other off clean.

Yes, and suspend play of the Giants since they are the likely beneficiaries of any foul play.

Never ends

Bold prediction - the interpreter is covering for Ohtani.

Could you imagine if Ohtani, I mean his interpreter, bet on baseball?

Will love to see what MLB will do if it is found that it was Ohtani gambling. More info I am sure will come out over time.

How will they handle their $700 million man

I've read all the updated articles and I'm still trying to understand where a theft occurred. If Ohtani wired payments to cover losses for his friend, that is not theft. If Ohtani didn't authorize the wires and they were made by the interpreter himself, that would be theft but I don't see anyone accusing him of doing that.

From what I've read and seen discussed on ESPN, the initial reporting was that Ohtani's interpreter said that Ohtani sent 2 wire transfers of $500,000 each to pay for gambling debts of the interpreter. After that, something unknown changed to the story becoming reporting of massive theft. Also, there was mention of other wire transfers having been made and a total amount owed of $4.5 million.

It sounds like maybe the interpreter had access to Ohtani's account and could have been the one who made the wire transfers without Ohtani knowing about them. If so, that would clearly be theft. We'll have to wait and see as more information comes out if this is what happened or if something else is going on.

Ok. thats what i was thinking also but am so confused on everything i am hearing. At this point you probably cant believe a lot of whats being released to the public, but i'm sure over time the fog over this will become much more clear.

My first thought was that perhaps the translator was placing bets for Ohtani. I sure hope that does not turn out to be the case.

I process wire transfers for my employer. There is only one way for someone to process a transfer on your behalf without you knowing it. You'd first have to authorize that person as an account signer and authorize that person for ACH and wire transfers. You'd also have to provide that person with their own login to your account (if processing online), provide them with your own personal login information, or authorize the bank to contact the person only on their authorized phone number (to confirm via phone). Otherwise, the bank will call the authorized number on the account to confirm, and they won't be calling you, who is trying to make the wire under the radar. They'd call the account holder who would not authorize the transfer.

It would be an unusual level of authority for an interpreter or a friend to have over another person's personal accounts. The only way you could hide the transfer would be for you obtain ultimate authorization over another's personal accounts, or to impersonate that person using sensitive account information you've gained access to. Again, something that does occur in the world of money management, but not usually among your friends.

Goes to show, pick your friends wisely people!

Shinpai nai des. Boku wa nihongo hanashimas. Otanisan wa watakshi no tomodashi des.

So you're saying it would be possible for the interpreter to be making the transfers without Ohtani knowing about them but not easy. If the guy owed that much money, it may have been worth it to him to find a way to be able to do it. Apparently, Ohtani trusted him so maybe he abused that trust to find a way. I guess we'll see as more information comes out.

It is possible, yes, but not without Ohtani giving him the kind of authority you would a money manager or a power of attorney. It would be highly unusual for someone to give a friend that kind of access to their finances if they weren't managing money for them professionally.

Without willingly giving him that kind of authority over his finances, the only other way for someone to make a transfer without involving the account holder is to impersonate them. But we all have our own accounts and we know that you would also need unrestricted access to personal devices (cell phone) or e-mail accounts in addition to a login to retrieve the verification security codes.

Sell, sell, sell
 

If I had high value Ohtani cards, I’d be selling them today. Does not look good for Ohtani.

I read that wire transfers to someone involved with illegal gambling would be a crime which could help explain why Ohtani's legal team doesn't want there to be an admitted connection between Ohtani and the wire transfers if Ohtani really did make them.

That was my first thought as well.

..yikes!

You'd probably see Joe Jackson and Pete Rose reinstated immediately.

There is no way a bookie would give him millions in credit without being assured that it was backed by big dollars. Doesn't pass the smell test. Shotime might do time

He’s too important to the league .
Probably get the same treatment that big-time gamblers Fred Flintstone and Michael Jordan got - love forever

Shohei is not an American citizen, he is here on a visa that can get revoked for illegal behavior. Another entanglement to ponder

He's tall enough to cross the Rio Grande.

I think it's best to realistic. Hardly anyone gets in any kind of legal trouble for placing bets. Pete Rose didn't do any time for placing bets. Neither did any of the Black Sox players after throwing the World Series.

Ohtani is not at risk of having his Visa revoked or going to jail. The worst case scenario for him is a lengthy suspension. Baseball rules dictate that a player caught placing a bet on a game he did not participate in can face a ban of one year, which is also the penalty for placing a bet with an illegal bookmaker (which is what Ohtani would entangled in if he bet). A player caught placing a bet on a game they did participate in can be banned for life.

He may or may not have engaged in betting on other sports that are not baseball. He is not getting deported or going to jail or getting banned from baseball.

I hope he is found guilty of gambling so if he gets a slap on the wrist, then Joe Jackson and Pete Rose should be reinstated.

If he is banned from baseball, then he is suffering the same fate of Jackson and Rose.

If he is found not guilty then ok. But......How much will MLB dig into this. I do not think they want anything to happen to their poster boy. Too much dollars for MLB at risk.

Something Fishy
 

We don’t know yet if he bet on baseball. Of course they said he didn’t. But, their story changed 180 degrees within 24 hours. At first, it was Ohtani paying a debt for a friend, then it changed to the interpreter stole the money from Ohtani (not buying that).
If the interpreter stole money from Ohtani, explain why they were sitting together on the bench for Opening Day yesterday laughing together?

At worst, he will suffer the same fate as Rose if he did bet on a game he played in. That's written into the rules. But the penalty for betting on a game you didn't participate in, or placing a bet on something else entirely through an illegal bookmaker, is a one year suspension.

Either way, unless he did the exact same things as Rose and Joe Jackson, his punishment will not be the same. I also don't see it as a pathway for them to re-enter baseball.

What do you call someone who pretends he's "Shotime" as he unscrupulously transfers the player's money?

Faux-tani. :D
(Please don't add me to your 'ignore' list.)

"Sources close to the gambling operation told ESPN that Bowyer dealt directly with Mizuhara, who placed bets on international soccer matches and other sports -- but not baseball -- starting in 2021."

They are not relying on the interpreter, Ohtani, Ohtani's team, or the MLB for the sports being bet on. Ohtani's teams disparate stories do not have anything to do with this part.

I do not believe for a minute this theft story concocted after previous stories had problems, but there does not appear to be any evidence there were bets on baseball.

I agree with everything you say.

While Mizuhara is generally described as "the interpreter" and they began as friends, I could very much see his actual job as being more of a personal assistant, in which case having access to all of that info is a very real possibility, especially because of the trust developed thru the friendship.

BUT, the amounts involved would QUICKLY raise red flags to the business management overseeing the accounts.

HA!!

It doesn't matter what MLB does, we are in an age of internet sleuths, and EVERYTHING will eventually come out, albeit facts will be presented in different ways by different people.

As long as I'm replying numerous times in a row to my own thread, I would like to mention that I'm a bit bummed nobody has commented on the "card" I posted, or pointed out why I posted it...

Evidently, this all started coming out during the game. After the game, Mizuhara told the team his original version of what happened. Then, the Dodgers fired him before the second game this morning.

Steve

Two half million dollar wire transfers to a bookie under investigation by the FBI will get you noticed. Looks like now he is falling on the(Samurai) sword for the Big Boss and taking the hit.

I believe you posted it because the photographer caught the player in the embarrassing act of pretending to be at bat while having a ball on the ground between his legs.


Brian (I might be misinterpreting the text along the borders)

Hahahaha

This entire situation can be summed up in two words...something stinks.

That's basically what Daniel Kim said during the second game on ESPN. He mentioned that he had been an interpreter for a while with a MLB player, and the job involved being very much of a "personal assistant". If the player went out, had to open a bank account, was buying a home.....whatever; he (Kim) was there to help guide the player through the process.

Another thing I wonder is.....now that Mizuhara has been fired from his job as Shohei's interpreter, what if any, ties does he still have in the USA? His entire existence was to serve as Shohei's assistant/interpreter. Now that he no longer has his job, will he even come back to the USA? And if not, how will that affect any investigation into what happened?

Steve

How do you short Otani cards?

MLB- "Players, you are not allowed to bet on Baseball"
Also MLB- "Fans, bet on Baseball, (responsibly of course, lol), you don't want to let our sponsors down"
Me- Nothing to see here folks, all seems reasonable, move along.

I mean what are the odds of this happening???