Ohtani Claims He Knew Nothing About $4.5 Million Gambling & Theft, Interpreter Held Information

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"I did not have financial relations with that bookie" This sounds familiar lmao

He knows English, but ordering dinner and holding a press conference are 2 different things.

I am Japanese and living in America for 12years now. I believe 💯 %what Otani said. Remember he made a statement that he has no involvement for anything and told that Ippei stole from him. So if what Otani said was not true he could risk himself from being sued by Ippei . Also Otani’s lawyer would not let Otani make a statement like that if they are not sure .

I too knew nothing about my gambling debts

C'mon! Ohtani is not going to use his OWN account, with his OWN name on it, to pay off an illegal bookie. He knows everyone watches him, wants to know what he does, etc. His interpreter was more than just his interperter. He had an seperate account, with Ohtani's name and permission to use, for conducting personal purchase, payment of bills, etc. Money went into this account every month, for the course of several years, and Ippei made the debt transactions 9 times, without Ohtani's knowledge. Ohtani's biggest crime was trusting this guy and now he is paying for it with this "guilty until proven innocent" bannana.

This the same guy that gave away all his earnings from his first home run derby to the training staff of the angels. Left millions of dollars on the table to come to America to play a sport he dedicated every second of his life to. Probably never even seen what a bet or a spread looks like. I believe most the hate comes from Jealous people who can't come to grips with the fact that an asain man from another country who speaks no English is the best player in an AMERICAN sport. They been waiting on anything to slander his name. Dig deep and humble yourself the man is nothing but class growing up in a culture of unimaginable discipline, especially if he grew up in the baseball world of Japan. Absolutely zero chance this man bet on sports

Looks like his involvement was… lost in translation

I wanted to believe ohtani...until i found out the $4.5m was "stolen" via multiple $500,000 wire transfers, over a 3 week period.
I find it hard to believe that ohtani is clueless.

So the interpreter is going to go to prison for stealing 4.5 million dollars right? ...right?

I remember my first $4.5 million bank transfer...

I’d deny it to

Id like to know what kind of bookie is giving random MLB employees a $4 million line of credit lmao

All his money isn’t in one account. And no way he’s checking his balances everyday. And 4.5 million isn’t much when you are worth a billion. Right?

You know what they say, deny, deny, deny, until they prove you wrong. Then ask for forgiveness.

If that’s true he needs the fire his accountant, too. Ain’t hearing nothing about that.

legalizing sports betting was the worst decision relating to sports the united states has ever made.

groundbreaking coverage here, japanese and english are not the same language

I am a fluent bilingual Japanese-American and my wife is a native Japanese. I still have to ask my wife what the Japanese Dr. or the banker said after the meeting. Medical and business terminology in Japanese is another foreign language for me. Shohei only understands English spoken with only 2-3 word sentences like most American students who attended public schools in U.S.A. It's plausible, Shohei was clueless as to what Ippei was doing(stealing/gambling) behind his back while in the U.S.A.

I think one thing that gets lost in this is the culture Shohei comes from. The honor culture of Japan comes with a certain amount of built in trust that would seem much easier to take advantage of than someone from the far more skeptical culture of the United States.

It'll be crazy if the investigation into the bookie ensnares other athletes.

Oh yeah? Well if I make a $500.00 online purchase my bank withholding payment and calling, texting & emailing me simultaneously inquiring if I actually made the purchase. But this guy shipped 4.5-milli to an underworld bookie and thumbs twiddled? GTFOOH!

The original story was from Ippei not Shohei, and then Ippei recanted, he has a history of gambling and also a known liar. In 2018 Ippei claims that he graduated from the University of California-Riverside in 2007, and also claimed he workedcl as an interpreter for the Red Sox in 2012.

Otani has been sending baseball gloves as a gift to every single child to elementary schools throughout Japan. I don’t think Otani sends money from his bank account by himself to do so. Somebody is using Otani’s money to donate like this on behalf of him.
My point is he really does not care much about money. He is not a kinda guy who checks his bank account and smiles. His passion is baseball and he is focused. He is a trustworthy man

I'm Japanese, and I've hired and worked with a lot of people from English-speaking countries. Although they've been in Japan for decades, they cannot function in our society well by themselves and don't know much about what is really going on in our organization due to their poor Japanese. They are taken care of by those who can speak both Japanese and English as if they were babies.

Pat doing the most responsible reporting on the subject should be an embarrassment to the so-called professionals. Most of the experts could not comprehend how Ohtani could not have known.

This might be the most laughable excuse ever. The minute you made the first $500k wire the bank would check with you, damn sure when you made 7 of them. There is zero chance ohtani didn't know, zero chance

Take all of my money pat! That seabass reference is the best😂

Best dumb and dumber reference I’ve heard in years. Thank you.

Translator got probably 50-100k down and kept trying to get it back before getting caught 💀

The Dumb and Dumber reference is PERFECT

I get a notifications, emails, etc. from my bank in real time if someone tries to fraudulently run my account for $1, but Ohtani with his team of lawyers and accountants, had multiple $500,000 counts of wire fraud go through yet had no idea. Nonsense.

His response to "how did you feel?" Said it ALL

The seabass reference popped me 😂

Notice how this store completely vanished? No follow up. Ohtani isn't suspended pending the investigation

Appreciate you guys for staying something that I thought was obvious, but obviously people have not put together the last few days. His interpreter was TRUSTED by Ohtani. He had so much access just by the nature of his job to translate EVERYTHING. Ohtani has money up to his ears, I highly doubt that man was checking his bank account regularly.

Loving you guys from Tokyo❤

On Japanese sites, supposedly Ippei had access to a 10 million dollar charity account. Dunno if this is true

If you want to judge if Shohei is lying, ask a Japanese person what they think.
I am American but I do speak and understand Japanese and I felt that he was telling the truth. Sports gambling is not a big thing in Japan, especially among young athletes.
It’s much more likely that his translator became a degenerate gambler after coming to the United States to learn English and work.

Pete Rose wishes he had an interpreter 😂

Shohei's mom is the one in charge of Shohei's money, so he literally has no idea what kind of money he has. Now, I'm assuming Ippei ingratiated himself with Ohtani's family, so it probably wasn't unusual for her to allow Ippei access to Shohei's bank accounts. Ippei was most likely in charge of the day to day purchases like food etc., however no one expected him to do something like this. And all the lies that Ippei has made are now coming to light, I'm glad y'all aren't just jumping on the Shohei bandwagon of hate.

Shohei's English is like your restaurant Spanish.

I've been married to a Japanese women for over 32 years. My wife still does not have a good grasp of our language. She's never been one to want to learn it so we both speak English and Japanese to each other, her more English. So, its not uncommon that Shohei does not understand much English or speak it. The thing many don't seem to understand about the Japanese is that they are very honorable and honest people. They don't go around lying. That is a Western thing to lie, and exactly why many are not taking his word at face value. You can bet that Shohei is tell you 100 percent the truth.

I may not know Spanish, but if i have a bank in Mexico, I am sure gonna be in charge of the pin number. There is no clear explanation how Ippei was able to wire the money on multiple occasions, banks do several levels of verification for wire transfers of this amount, things just don 't add up no matter how much you cover for shoehi.

When his accountants do his taxes every year how do they explain these half million dollar wire transfers to the IRS ?! Do they write them off as donations or losses ?!

That buckle is glorious!

You're telling me they couldn't find ONE banker who spoke Japanese?!?!?!?!

As an Angels fan I’ve watched a lot of clips and specials on Shohei over the years. I’m pretty sure his mother and father were in control of his money and accounts.

What I really like about this episode is the objectivity and professionalism that is displayed here. The comment of why there is an expectation that those from other countries should speak English is paramount. This position is contrary to Stephen A. Smith's comment that the face of baseball should not have an interpreter. Of course, Stephen A. Smith walked that back. I am new to the baseball youtube videos. Your broadcasts are superb.

Ohtani probably does speak some English, it's a big part of their curriculum in school.
Problem is they tend to suck at it and speaking a language poorly is seen as shameful. Somebody like Ohtani would not want to speak publicly and show his bad English

I’m gonna throw some wild conspiracy theory that this isn’t a sports bet but a payoff to the yakuza. Just saying.

I can’t transfer 10k without being questioned…

Legalizing gambling has been nothing short of a disaster

If banned from baseball he can get a job with Homeland Security as a spokesman for claiming the U.S. southern border is closed and secure. 😏

My brother works for a hearing aid company that makes some hearing aids that have translation abilities. I'm surprised that there not being used by members of the media or sports teams.

Shohei might not have bet but he definitely knew where the money was going

It wouldn’t be worth his time to study English. He’s paid to play baseball, not to speak English. If he has a spare time, he’s better off focusing on baseball, resting or filming another commercial in Japan.

Why no one ask the big question, "When did MLB know Ohtani was the subject of an illegal gambling bust? Because that would explain much more....was it all the way back last October?

You can't put a price on Ohtani's loyalty. 🎨

I'd use an interpreter too even if I was somewhat bilingual. I like knowing more than I let on, but also while speaking to the media I'll want to be sure I'm right. I'm sure in the locker room they can communicate fine now

One aspect of the story that doesn’t add up to me: a bookmaker gave an individual who makes less than 100k a year over 4 million in credit.

I think Shohei didn’t know he was betting but probably knew when the translator needed 4+ millions dollars so he let him take the money to pay off the debt and walk away.

I believe Ohtani...

You might know that every player pay their taxes when they play at different state..myb im wrong...i think ippei is the one that incharge for paying ohtani taxes..because many Japanese player let their interpreter pay their taxes(based on ex interpreter said)...that how ippei get access to ohtani account

Pat looking like Johnny Bravo 💪

In defense of him being so famous and not knowing fluent English, Messi is the greatest athlete to ever live and barely speaks English. The AI Messi commercials are always entertaining btw. The Lays one specifially lol.

Shohei needs to put a 5$ million wager on Maxx Crosby to win 2024 DPOY!!!

Did Ohtani meet personally with the Bookmaker? Where and when? And, for what purpose?

Here
Before the porn bots flood the comment section

With the history of Ohtani i bet he has no idea whats going on with is finances lol someome in the camp new about the transaction but theres a good chance Ohtani wasnt aware (if thats the case he should def get his camp straight).

In this kind of important occasion,if people misunderstand Otani’s English because he is not a native English speaker other problems may Come out. Therefore, please let him use interrupter Japanese people are not good at foreign languages please don’t expect every foreigner can speak in English Japan has Japanese language. I am so sad that Some American people leave very mean comments. I feel so much pain for this person. I think if I meet American people in trouble in Japan, I’m not going to help them.

Everyone’s saying the story changed but was it Mizuhara or Ohtani who first said that the money was to bail him out?

Of course he didnt know!

There is no way a bookmaker dumb enough to allow wire transfers of 500k to his account. The amount of red flags that it would raise to the IRS, FBI and the RICO act…bookies collect payments on Wednesdays (cash in person). Bookies pay out on Thursdays (cash)…the line of credit was not 4.5 mil. It seemed like 500k, that’s why payments were of 500k.

Athletes get taken advantage of because in so many cases they are not being educated in finance by the university that is exploiting them. Really sad.

“Gombling.”

Anyone notice in the interview with the new interpreter, as he spoke what Ohtani had told him ohtani is nodding his head as if he knows what he’s saying, plus Trout has said in the past Ohtani speaks a bit of English

“If you’re a hustler…” bro wtf just don’t take advantage of people 😂

I believe Shohei 💯 too.
Thank you so much for your understanding.

With that kind of money he needs to have 2 totally different interpreters to have the double check

Little of topic but, Pat might be the most shredded punter of all time

You could only wire transfer $500k so there was 9 transactions for 3 weeks he definitely knew what was going on

I get a kick out everyone writing as if they knew Ohtani personally-
Everything you think you no about any superstar has been fed to you by PR and legal teams who want you to see things their way. It usually works.

How the hell is an interpreter able to touch money of Ohtoni, in the first place???

Gambling is gonna bring everything down eventually. We’re all human.

Isn’t 4.5 million the equivalent of losing like 40 bucks to us lol

These dudes just yell “ayyyy millions!” And then go right back to the scandal like nothing happened wtf what a trip

Sooo this never came up @ the bath house? I find it hard to believe.

OHTANI is the face of Baseball, WORLDWIDE.....Manfred is NOT going to allow his biggest cash cow to go down. His interpreter is the scapegoat and he'll take the fall. Once the dust settles, the interpreter will be compensated accordingly. Corporate America at it's finest

Real talk, sports gambling is taking out a lot of people of my generation, I can only imagine what it's doing to guys in their 20s. It's way too easy to get lost down a dark hole now.

He know how to pitch and hit, I don't give a damn if he's a mute. I want him on my ball club!

Shohei cappin as large as Tone’s 10 gallon

I am Japanese and I am not familiar with this show, but what is happening at 3:08 😂😂

Anyone ever watched American Greed on cable T.V. - think they still shows re-runs. amazing crazy how people get dupe.

This whole thing is shady AF

So except for Shohei saying he knew nothing about the gambling and it looking like his interpreter was robbing him blind, EVERYTHING else McAfee said was just him stirring the pot and not based at all in anything factual about the situation. Or did I miss something?

Every athlete should get an interpreter

Gambling in baseball is and always has been a problem. Let's Move the A's to Vegas to stop the problem.

Yea I've never bet on sports either..I know my money is going hit

When I was very young, my grandmother spoke French to my brother and me always. I could understand it perfectly well, but I could never speak it correctly. It was weird. My father was the same way. He understood it fine but never spoke it. I can still pick some stuff out, not that I hear French very often, but very little anymore. But I'm guessing, since he's been doing this for a few years that he at the very least understands some English. It seems natural to me, anyway, that if you're around a different language long enough, you don't necessarily become fluent but you learn a little bit. And American English is a very difficult language to learn if you don't start young, like, little kid young. So maybe, but I'm guessing he knows a little.