BADOLBILZ Posted March 21 Posted March 21 (edited) https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft So he first told investigators that he paid off $4.5M in bets to illegal gambling syndicate on behalf of his "interpreter"..............but then his lawyer says no the interpreter stole the money and has been fired. Interpreter says it wasn't bet on baseball and that he didn't know it was illegal and won't do THAT again, doggonit! Obviously, this is lifetime ban kinda' stuff we are talking about here. Ohtani can't be cutting checks to illegal gambling operations...........even if he wasn't the one actually placing the bets........which seems doubtful. Not that interpreters don't have unlimited access to all their clients bank accounts, I'm sure that's common. Very simple solution.........ban Shohei for 10 years. Only costs him $20M because all of his money is deferred. Win-win, in my opinion. Edited March 21 by BADOLBILZ 1 1 Quote
Mark80 Posted March 21 Posted March 21 Yeah, OK. I'm sure they are going to ban Ohtani. Lol. 1 1 Quote
The Frankish Reich Posted March 21 Posted March 21 54 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft So he first told investigators that he paid off $4.5M in bets to illegal gambling syndicate on behalf of his "interpreter"..............but then his lawyer says no the interpreter stole the money and has been fired. Interpreter says it wasn't bet on baseball and that he didn't know it was illegal and won't do THAT again, doggonit! Obviously, this is lifetime ban kinda' stuff we are talking about here. Ohtani can't be cutting checks to illegal gambling operations...........even if he wasn't the one actually placing the bets........which seems doubtful. Not that interpreters don't have unlimited access to all their clients bank accounts, I'm sure that's common. Very simple solution.........ban Shohei for 10 years. Only costs him $20M because all of his money is deferred. Win-win, in my opinion. At first I thought it was a story about the interpreter using some petty cash (when you sign a $700 million contract "petty cash" can be a few thousand) to place his own bets. When I saw that it was $4.5 million, I thought the same thing - really? He's not a financial advisor, he's an interpreter. I have no idea how he would be draining Ohtani's accounts unless Ohtani authorized it. More to come. Bad for the Dodgers = Good for Baseball! 8 minutes ago, Mark80 said: Yeah, OK. I'm sure they are going to ban Ohtani. Lol. Unfortunately, this is true too. 1 Quote
Bray Wyatt Posted March 21 Posted March 21 (edited) Yeah, Ohtani had no idea 4.5 mill was coming out of his account or what it was for (sarcasm). Unfortunately, they acted quickly on this and got rid of the interpreter (who is like a life long friend who wont rat) and this all goes away soon Edited March 21 by Bray Wyatt 1 1 Quote
Mark80 Posted March 21 Posted March 21 This is how I'm reading what happened. Interpreter got himself into a considerable gambling debt to the wrong people. Shohei decided he would pay off the debt to save his friend from the consequences. Lawyer is trying to cover up that move by saying interpreter stole the money. Shohei is too smart, too concerned with his image to have actually done the gambling himself. He has meticulously created and maintained his public persona, no way he was dumb enough to risk it all like that for his own betting desires (IMO). 2 Quote
BADOLBILZ Posted March 21 Author Posted March 21 6 minutes ago, Mark80 said: This is how I'm reading what happened. Interpreter got himself into a considerable gambling debt to the wrong people. Shohei decided he would pay off the debt to save his friend from the consequences. Lawyer is trying to cover up that move by saying interpreter stole the money. Shohei is too smart, too concerned with his image to have actually done the gambling himself. He has meticulously created and maintained his public persona, no way he was dumb enough to risk it all like that for his own betting desires (IMO). I agree, that's a likely scenario, IMO. But he still can't be paying off illegal bookmakers on the sly. That's when he has to go to authorities first instead of getting busted in a federal operation. Gambling isn't viewed as the ultimate offense for athletes in other countries like it is here......so paying off an organized crime syndicate might be business as usual in Japan........but it isn't here. If this were a garden variety asian baseball player they would draw a very hard line. And with regard to "Meticulously created and maintained his public persona"? Yeah, no. He's hid from sight his entire MLB career. He cashes in on endorsements in Japan but here you need to actually engage the public from time to time to craft a public persona. 2 Quote
Augie Posted March 21 Posted March 21 (edited) 2 hours ago, Mark80 said: This is how I'm reading what happened. Interpreter got himself into a considerable gambling debt to the wrong people. Shohei decided he would pay off the debt to save his friend from the consequences. Lawyer is trying to cover up that move by saying interpreter stole the money. Shohei is too smart, too concerned with his image to have actually done the gambling himself. He has meticulously created and maintained his public persona, no way he was dumb enough to risk it all like that for his own betting desires (IMO). On Dan Patrick this morning they read some of what is not allowed by MLB, and that includes “financing” gambling. That word jumped out at me, and that is why the story changed from covering the interpreter’s debts (at first glance Shohei felt safe because he didn’t bet) to the new story that the interpreter STOLE the money. The interpreter will try to take the entire fall, but it’s hard to unring that bell. So, that’s my guess. . Edited March 21 by Augie 3 Quote
nucci Posted March 21 Posted March 21 “Welcome back to SportsCenter Presented by ESPN Bet, for more on the Ohtani situation we go to our FanDuel MLB Insider Jeff Passan at our DraftKings Studio in Los Angeles brought to you by Caesar’s Sportsbook. Jeff, how could something like this happen?” 1 4 8 2 Quote
Mark80 Posted March 21 Posted March 21 (edited) 32 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said: I agree, that's a likely scenario, IMO. But he still can't be paying off illegal bookmakers on the sly. That's when he has to go to authorities first instead of getting busted in a federal operation. Gambling isn't viewed as the ultimate offense for athletes in other countries like it is here......so paying off an organized crime syndicate might be business as usual in Japan........but it isn't here. If this were a garden variety asian baseball player they would draw a very hard line. And with regard to "Meticulously created and maintained his public persona"? Yeah, no. He's hid from sight his entire MLB career. He cashes in on endorsements in Japan but here you need to actually engage the public from time to time to craft a public persona. Disagree. Staying out of the spotlight is the persona. Staying vanilla, uncontroversial in any way. Very similar to Derek Jeter's playing career. Edited March 21 by Mark80 Quote
BADOLBILZ Posted March 21 Author Posted March 21 31 minutes ago, Mark80 said: Disagree. Staying out of the spotlight is the persona. Staying vanilla, uncontroversial in any way. Very similar to Derek Jeter's playing career. Jeter crafted his persona. He was still going out and ***** it up in epic proportions.........but he worked to hard cover that up and threatened to limit access if anyone said anything negative about him. He's an assh*le and he really didn't want anyone to know about that and disrupt his status or revenue stream and HOF track. Ohtani is not "actively" crafting anything. Unlike Jeter there is nothing subjective/subtle about his game and he has no competition like Jeter had with an A-Rod or Garciaparra etc.. Ohtani just doesn't provide access. That's very different. Quote
NoHuddleKelly12 Posted March 21 Posted March 21 2 hours ago, Augie said: On Dan Patrick this morning the read some of what is not allowed by MLB, and that includes “financing” gambling. That word jumped out at me, and that is why the story changed from covering HIS debts (at first glance he might feel safe because he didn’t bet) to the interpreter STOLE the money. The interpreter will try to take the entire fall, but it’s hard to unring that bell. MLB’s investigator will sleuth this across home plate on the double! 3 Quote
Fleezoid Posted March 21 Posted March 21 18 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said: MLB’s investigator will sleuth this across home plate on the double! In 6 years he hasn't learned a lick of English? Quote
Augie Posted March 21 Posted March 21 11 minutes ago, Fleezoid said: In 6 years he hasn't learned a lick of English? There is an APP for that. But just in case we have no connection, I know how to ask where the bathrooms are in multiple languages. If it pays off just once, it’s well worth it. Quote
BADOLBILZ Posted March 21 Author Posted March 21 39 minutes ago, Fleezoid said: In 6 years he hasn't learned a lick of English? Not being able to communicate is part of his meticulously crafted public persona. 1 Quote
The Frankish Reich Posted March 22 Posted March 22 11 hours ago, Mark80 said: This is how I'm reading what happened. Interpreter got himself into a considerable gambling debt to the wrong people. Shohei decided he would pay off the debt to save his friend from the consequences. Lawyer is trying to cover up that move by saying interpreter stole the money. Shohei is too smart, too concerned with his image to have actually done the gambling himself. He has meticulously created and maintained his public persona, no way he was dumb enough to risk it all like that for his own betting desires (IMO). That would make sense if we weren't talking about $4.5 million. I know Ohtani's interpreter must be one of the best paid interpreters in the world, but this is way beyond any interpreter's resources. If the bookie extended credit, well, that was no doubt with the expectation that Ohtani himself was good for it ... whether Ohtani was in the loop or not. 1 Quote
NoSaint Posted March 22 Posted March 22 6 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said: That would make sense if we weren't talking about $4.5 million. I know Ohtani's interpreter must be one of the best paid interpreters in the world, but this is way beyond any interpreter's resources. If the bookie extended credit, well, that was no doubt with the expectation that Ohtani himself was good for it ... whether Ohtani was in the loop or not. minor addition, it may not have even been implied by anyone along the way either- as a devils advocate “he’s good for it” could’ve been “this dudes friend would pay 4.5M before risking rumors of him having 4.5M in gambling debt that could ruin his 9 figure contract so we will be good” 1 Quote
Irv Posted March 23 Posted March 23 Needs to get the Pete Rose treatment. Send him back to China or wherever he came from. Done. 2 Quote
4merper4mer Posted March 23 Posted March 23 2 hours ago, Irv said: Needs to get the Pete Rose treatment. Send him back to China or wherever he came from. Done. I don’t think that’s fair at all. Oh wait, he’s on the Dodgers. OK by me. 1 Quote
BADOLBILZ Posted March 24 Author Posted March 24 12 hours ago, Doc said: No wonder he deferred his salary for years later... Yep, didn't trust himself not to gamble it all away. Quote
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