Ohtani controversy

[jerichoholicninja]

Obviously, Ohtani was betting in favor of the Angels for years, hence all the money he lost.

[HarveysWBs]

Sports gambling is still illegal in California, hence the “illegal bookie” angle. As such, that part doesn’t add any further intrigue to me. If Ippei was going to gamble, by definition, the bookie had to be illegal. What gets weird then is, if Shohei Ohtani knowingly covered payment, then he actively paid for something illegal, even if he himself didn’t gamble. I’m not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that is why the story changed so quickly. What blows my mind is why the Shohei camp didn’t do everything in their power to shut down Ippei’s interview with ESPN. I mean, the guy sat down for an optional 90-minute interview to discuss something that directly impacted the player who may now be the biggest star in world sports? All the ways that could go south are too numerous to count.

All of the above makes me think Shohei Ohtani had a guy he trusted who he should not have, and, being a good friend who has recently come into a massive amount of money, did his guy a solid. That solid appears to be at least a legal gray area, if not an out and out crime, and his legal team and publicists have now quickly tried to protect their client with the accusation of “massive theft.” I generally do not attribute to malevolence what is more easily attributed to ignorance and incompetence. It will be interesting to see what else comes from this. As of now, MLB is not actively investigating (and for now, they can fall back on the position of waiting for the legal investigation to run its course first), but with so many powerful interests aligned behind Shohei’s ultimate exoneration, this is going to be talked about for a long time no matter what decision is rendered.

While I don’t relish the idea of anyone committing any wrongdoings or going to prison, as someone who is no fan of the Dodgers or their ridiculous contractual shenanigans with Shohei, I’d be lying if I said a little egg on some faces is not a welcome sight.

[folly412]

Investigating the transfers should be pretty easy if they are indeed wires (vs. ACH transfers).  No bank is going to let $500,000 wires go through without additional authorization.  Possibly a phone authenticator, but probably even a recorded phone call to/from the bank to the account owner to verify.

[The Beat Goes On]

Maybe Ohtani and Manfred work out a reverse Jordan arrangement. Ohtani plays for the Clippers for a few seasons and then comes back to MLB after. 

[BrewerFan]

4 hours ago, folly412 said:

Investigating the transfers should be pretty easy if they are indeed wires (vs. ACH transfers).  No bank is going to let $500,000 wires go through without additional authorization.  Possibly a phone authenticator, but probably even a recorded phone call to/from the bank to the account owner to verify.

I was not familiar with the term ACH when I replied...you're probably correct.

[homer]

Late Friday news dump LOL

[pitchleague]

I remember the whole Pete Rose saga started out pretty much the same way as this Ohtani incident:  it all seemed pretty much a “not a big deal” and everybody was behind Rose and his camp.  And then, after some actual investigation, the truth came out.  It was weeks (maybe a month or two?) from “nah, there’s no way Rose bet on baseball” to “whoa, he even bet on his own team?  Holy cow, what was he thinking?”

I am in no way saying that history is going to repeat itself.  But I certainly will not be too surprised if it does.  And it would be a shame.  Again.

But, let’s all hope everything is on the up and up.

 

[bigred]

(In blue....sort of) Maybe they're just claiming it was gambling, because the $$$ was being funneled to the Yakuza? Lol 🤷‍♂️

[Harold Hutchison]

We don't know the facts. Obviously what happened needs to be determined. Will it be on the up-and-up, and will balls and strikes be properly called? I'm not going to lie... I feel a little leery about the possibility this could just be swept under some rug.

Part of it stems seeing what Ryan Braun went through after the 2011 season, it gives me one perspective. An arbitrator ultimately ruled in his favor and voided the suspension. MLB then fires said arbitrator, and in 2013, they take legal action and get documentation that has them suspend Braun anyway (on what were dubious grounds, IMO).

The other part of me knows enough history to know the close call MLB had after the Black Sox scandal of 1919... and that is why MLB and other sports leagues need to get a massive handle on how to handle sports betting (which is becoming legal and is part of the landscape, like it or not).

Just what the facts are will determine what should be done. Until then, innocent until proven guilty is the right call here. So far, there's nothing to indicate anything beyond Ohtani made a $4.5 million mistake when it came to picking a friend.

[TURBO]

56 minutes ago, clancyphile said:

Just what the facts are will determine what should be done. Until then, innocent until proven guilty is the right call here. So far, there's nothing to indicate anything beyond Ohtani made a $4.5 million mistake when it came to picking a friend.

yup, this.

[jerichoholicninja]

Does anyone outside of Dodger haters actually care about this? Until and unless they can prove Ohtani was tanking games this is all barely even newsworthy.

[stalton]

29 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

Does anyone outside of Dodger haters actually care about this? Until and unless they can prove Ohtani was tanking games this is all barely even newsworthy.

My only thing is the potential hypocrisy if Ohtani did something illegal that will get swept under the rug that if it were anybody else would get the full power of the banhammer of the MLB. 

The whole gambling issue in of itself is a debacle. I'm not sure how the MLB can say it's horrible and receive tons of money in sponsorship.

[Thurston Fluff]

16 minutes ago, stalton said:

My only thing is the potential hypocrisy if Ohtani did something illegal that will get swept under the rug that if it were anybody else would get the full power of the banhammer of the MLB. 

The whole gambling issue in of itself is a debacle. I'm not sure how the MLB can say it's horrible and receive tons of money in sponsorship.

I'm not singling you out for this but I think those who don't see the difference between legal in illegal betting are missing a key factor. Illegal gambling is done by people who proved they have no problem breaking the rules. Legal gambling is done by people who have a vested interest in not breaking the rules. Corporations looking to capitalize on legal gambling don't want to kill the golden goose. They're not going to be trying to rig outcomes. Organized crime, not so much.

[jay87shot]

I have a hard time believing Ohtani knew nothing about this. I am not saying he did any gambling or anything illegal. But at last I heard he (his lawyers)  said he knew nothing about this and the friend/interpreter stole the money. From what I gather these two were best friends and spend massive amounts of time together. Maybe you don't know how much he owes but Ohtani definitely would have known he had a gambling problem. I also feel like no illegal booking is going to give an interpreter a 4.5 million dollar line of credit even if his best friend is Shohei. I will be behind the innocent until proven guilty, I am just super skepticle on the he knew nothing about it aspect.

[stalton]

51 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

I'm not singling you out for this but I think those who don't see the difference between legal in illegal betting are missing a key factor. Illegal gambling is done by people who proved they have no problem breaking the rules. Legal gambling is done by people who have a vested interest in not breaking the rules. Corporations looking to capitalize on legal gambling don't want to kill the golden goose. They're not going to be trying to rig outcomes. Organized crime, not so much.

Personally I don't care about Ohtani. I care about the sanctity of the game. 

I already have issues with inconsistent and biased favoritism ala payroll shenanigans and lack of even punishments for off field issues, but I foresee a potential for the MLB Powers That Be, to look the other way for whatever Ohtani did, because he is one of the biggest faces in baseball. If Ohtani is held guilty of something illegal, I'd like him to get the same punishment that Turang would get if Brice did it.

[jerichoholicninja]

The embarrassment that is the majority of the umpires employed by MLB is a bigger disgrace to the game than any potential game fixing via gambling. 

[homer]

13 hours ago, jerichoholicninja said:

The embarrassment that is the majority of the umpires employed by MLB is a bigger disgrace to the game than any potential game fixing via gambling. 

Tim Donaghy says hello

[Thurston Fluff]

21 hours ago, stalton said:

Personally I don't care about Ohtani. I care about the sanctity of the game. 

I already have issues with inconsistent and biased favoritism ala payroll shenanigans and lack of even punishments for off field issues, but I foresee a potential for the MLB Powers That Be, to look the other way for whatever Ohtani did, because he is one of the biggest faces in baseball. If Ohtani is held guilty of something illegal, I'd like him to get the same punishment that Turang would get if Brice did it.

Not sure what this had to do with my comment but I agree wholeheartedly. The only point I was making was illegal gambling has little to do with MLB's connection to legal gambling. Gambling on it's own will not effect the integrity of the sport. The problem comes when someone owes money to "Vinny Da Fish" and can't pay.

[MadScientist]

Given that betting on baseball is the one unforgivable sin in baseball,  I expect that MLB will take a very close and fair look at this. 

The only way Ohtani should be fully cleared is if he really did know nothing about his interpreter and close friend gambling.  It might be a little gray as isn't Ohtani gambling, but

If they find something along the lines of the interpreter telling Ohtani something like I've got 10K riding on you this game, there should be mulit-year suspension if not a lifetime ban.  If Ohtani said he'd cover him if they lost, then it should be a lifetime ban, no question.

[stalton]

4 hours ago, Thurston Fluff said:

Not sure what this had to do with my comment but I agree wholeheartedly. The only point I was making was illegal gambling has little to do with MLB's connection to legal gambling. Gambling on it's own will not effect the integrity of the sport. The problem comes when someone owes money to "Vinny Da Fish" and can't pay.

Agreed and I think my post got slightly off the topic from what I quoted.

[AKCheesehead]

So after reading the latest, Ohtani says it was theft and that he never transferred money or had any knowledge of it taking place.  I'm not wholeheartedly believing that right now, but let's just assume it's true.  Then Shohei really needs to figure out how to look after his finances a little better.  If someone else was able to transfer money out of his account and he didn't notice 9 transactions of $500k, that's pretty wild to me.  Most if not all of us would never let anyone have access to our account, and would notice an unauthorized deduction of any amount.

[homer]

6 minutes ago, AKCheesehead said:

So after reading the latest, Ohtani says it was theft and that he never transferred money or had any knowledge of it taking place.  I'm not wholeheartedly believing that right now, but let's just assume it's true.  Then Shohei really needs to figure out how to look after his finances a little better.  If someone else was able to transfer money out of his account and he didn't notice 9 transactions of $500k, that's pretty wild to me.  Most if not all of us would never let anyone have access to our account, and would notice an unauthorized deduction of any amount.

Maybe his interpreter was also his accountant?

[Soupbone]

Too many smoking guns.

Ohtani is not being forthright in his statements.

[AKCheesehead]

57 minutes ago, homer said:

Maybe his interpreter was also his accountant?

That possibility had not dawned on me.  Maybe so. 

 

I want to believe Ohtani is on the up and up.  These conflicting stories from he and the interpreter are causing me to have some doubts though.  Something doesn't seem right.

[Fear The Chorizo]

2 hours ago, homer said:

Maybe his interpreter was also his accountant?

He's also his scapegoat, which is the most important role to him at this point.