OT: Is Ohtani in big trouble over translator’s gambling scandal?
By now most people here know the Dodgers fired Shohei Ohtani’s longtime translator after his $4.5 million gambling debt to an illegal bookie was reportedly paid off, at least in part, by payments made from Ohtani’s account.
Everyone in this story, including Ohtani’s reps, have given shifting accounts. This smells fishy. I think this is bad for Ohtani no matter what. Either he stupidly paid off his friend’s seven-figure gambling debt — by wire, in his own name, to a bookie, thereby violating both MLB rules and California law. (Both prohibit illegal gambling). Or somehow the translator hacked Ohtani’s account — without anyone on Ohtani’s financial team noticing. Which seems unlikely. Thoughts? Theories?
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft
This has Yakuza written all over it.
Sure dude
He is already worth hundreds of millions on the way to being a billionaire. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Ohtani's financial team (especially if the translator was part of that team) didn't catch it.
Also, him paying off the gambling debt wouldn't surprise me - again, lot of money but $4.5 million to Ohtani is like $450 for a regular person. A lot of people would fork out $500 to help a friend.
Ohtani being the better would surprise me but you never know.
You don’t think his team would notice two $500,000 transfers to some random dude? Nonsense.
Also, transfers over $10k require authorization and must be reported. You really think the translator had direct access to Ohtani’s accounts, which were almost certainly handled by business managers? This doesn’t add up. There’s no indication the translator handled finances. My guess: the story Ohtani’s reps originally told was largely accurate. He covered his buddy’s debt. Then his team realized that that would be illegal. So then they claimed the money was stolen. Ohtani is in trouble, I’d guess. The league’s top star wired millions to an illegal bookie. PR disaster.
$10k transactions are reported by the banks, not by Ohtanis financial team so that fact would not necessarily alert anyone.
frankly Stuff like this happens all the time and goes undiscovered for years (source: I do forensic investigations include fraud for a living). for you and me $4.5m seems like a lot to go missing but considering how much money he has and how much movement there likely is (agents, managers, taxes, staff, planes, homes etc) it is not much of a leap to see how it may happen. So I can easily see this going undetected and the actions of a rogue employee heavily in debt.
That being said, it can also be a cover up. Just not a lot known at this time.
Most of his contract is in deferred payments (680M) and his first 10year salary is 2M/yr. With endorsement deals, I'm sure he's doing fine, but to pay off someone else's 4.5M gambling debt and put himself in liability is questionable and hard to believe. Unless of course it was his debt.
So much more to uncover.
March 21st, 2024 at 11:27 AM ^
He's also estimated to have made $20-30m per year in endorsements, not to mention his $30M salary last year. So likely more than enough in his bank accounts to be able to have someone steal that money or more than enough to cover a $4.5M gambling debt
You are correct about his yearly salary, but you're ignoring the almost 43 million he made playing for the Angels.
He's only making $2M this year. I guess we now know why he wanted all that money deferred.
Stinks like baby poop.
It's gambling, who the fuck cares?
Pete Rose?
It's gambling, who the fuck cares?
There could be player safety implications… as we know, that trumps everything.
And more seriously, there's implications about the integrity of the competition. Sports only works as an entertainment product when the viewers truly believe that the players and teams are genuinely trying their best to win.
Which is why all pro sports leagues and college sports haven’t hitched themselves to legalized sports gambling.
It's why they shouldn't have done it. Of course they have because they saw an opportunity to make a quick buck. It's shortsighted though, and carries big long-term risks. Look at boxing. It used to be either the 1st or 2nd most salient pro sport, with only baseball as its real competitor, but betting money eventually corrupted the competitive environment. Now boxing is reduced to its biggest event featuring the star of 30 years ago (Tyson) vs a YouTube personality (Jake Paul). Imagine if the NFL were trying to drum up interest by having Dan Marino start a game against some random Tik Tok influencer.
These gambling apps haven't quite pushed NFL football or College Hoops down that rabbit hole just yet, but you can see a pathway there. I think the sports leagues need to think real hard about how much filthy lucre is worth it if it puts the long-term viability of their product at risk.
Long-term outlooks are going extinct. Not sexy enough for short-term returns.
The interest among the owner class isn't long-term stability so much as full-scale, full-throttle looting.
There will be an inevitable collapse. They know. They don't care. The mindset there is "I'll be dead by then".
If not dead, rich enough to either retire or go find another industry to loot.
'lucre'. great word. filthy lucre, the only kind.
There's nothing new under the sun. Within a year, Ohtani announces he's quitting MLB to go play in the G-League, for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He does that for a couple years, then comes back to the Dodgers, switching his uniform number to 45.
----
More seriously: it's curious that Ohtani's PR team has already changed their story, with this story barely 24 hours old. That's almost never a good sign. IMO, there's smoke here.
March 21st, 2024 at 10:00 AM ^
They didn't change their story. The original was just a translation mix-up. They didn't trust their translator because he stole money, and the translator app they used got it messed up. They're now trying a different translator app and hoping this one can deliver a "believable" story.
Man, it'd be awful to see a try-hard, up-and-comer squad like the Los Angeles Dodgers have to lose one of their fifteen all-stars. I hope they can recover.
Opening day, not a lot of sports news mixed with wild X speculation/conspiracy theories.
No one knows anything beyond what's been released by the team and it's very unlikely the team would have released the information it has if it was all made up/part of some sort of wild cover up.
Pete Rose wishes he had thought of having a translator.
the semi-humorous response is: pete rose has entered the chat...
more serious response: all manner of fed and state laws along with MLB restrictions have been broken. you can't move that kind of money in the absence of signatures and many other very affirmative acts - its not like when you accidently hit those damn pop up ads that cover the content on mgoblog. wire fraud, theft (if the interpreter really did that on his own....highly unlikely), conceivably tax evasion or if somebody wants to get real creative, RICO statutes.
IRS might be involved, but more likely DOJ and treasury. on the state enforcement, maybe cal dept of treasury and the AG's office?
oh yeah, and MLB almost certainly has to suspend him for at least a while.
This is finally going to Pete into the Hall. Maybe Barry Bonds and Roger Clemons too.
March 21st, 2024 at 10:30 AM ^
no love for sammy 'steroid' sosa?
March 21st, 2024 at 12:19 PM ^
Not only did he do steroids, he also used corked bats. So he was cheating in more ways than one..
March 21st, 2024 at 11:24 PM ^
Sammy is trying to get into the hall by being unrecognizable.
Pete Rose be like:
My initial guess on the outcome - the translator gets blamed and somehow finds himself leaving the country. Ohtani will get some type of reprimand for doing what Japanese culture says he can do, but won’t face legal charges other than a big fine and some tax penalties. MLB will suspend him for a few inconsequential games and he’ll be around for the showcase teams (uhh, I mean Dodgers) playoff run. Everybody will shake hands and laugh with each other, and the adoring public will fawn at the ‘size’ of the fine levied.
Could you imagine though if baseball levied a lifetime ban on its biggest star?
Talk about creating an international incident.
Is this the sports translator equivalent of hirikiri?
Well "hirikiri" isn't a word, so I don't think so.
March 21st, 2024 at 10:08 AM ^
Seppuku or harakiri is an act of honor. Japanese officers would do so if they felt they had disgraced the Emperor by losing a battle. Better to die than to surrender and admit defeat. Surrender was dishonorable in the Imperial Japanese military of the early to mid 20th century.
This had catastrophic consequences for the unfortunate POWs who were in Japanese hands. The Japanese viewed these men as lacking honor and thus worthy of no respect or dignity. It was equally so for the Japanese rank and file as they would regular suffer Cannae-level fatality rates in battles. 98% fatality rates occurred multiple times in the Pacific Theater due to Japanese refusing to surrender. This created a level of bitterness among GIs and Marines and an extreme level of concern over what an invasion of Japan would be like among the upper echelon of the military and government. The decision to drop the atomic bomb was significantly influenced by these fights to the death.
People are talking.
But we'll know for sure if he decides to take a hiatus from baseball in order to try to make the NBA.
Do major league baseball player develop close personal relationships with their translators? In some cases I imagine they do, so maybe it is possible that he paid off his translators debts.
They are close friends. That’s why he was the translator.
They should have blamed Stalions and of course, Jalen Milroe's Cadence.
Bye.
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."
Obviously, Coach Moore should be suspended by the Big Ten for this.
...am I doing this right...?
No, sorry, you done goofed. Coach suspended, yes, but we've escalated to Michigan being forced to vacate their wins and the entire program collapsing under scandal.
Edit: I should have known someone else mentioned MJ.
Who cares
March 21st, 2024 at 11:00 AM ^
He violated the CBA. He's in trouble.
March 21st, 2024 at 10:18 AM ^
Alex said I can't have any of Ohtani's money so I don't care. 😡
March 21st, 2024 at 10:34 AM ^
Somewhere, Pete Rose is chuckling.
March 21st, 2024 at 10:53 AM ^
I don't watch MLB anymore and know few actual players, but Ohtani is one of them. He's the face of MLB and they will protect him.