Passan is right. People get ripped off all the time and it’s usually by people they trust implicitly. And I’m sure Ohtani trusted Ippei with LOTS of things, including accounts access.
@@Zetty780 Absolutely right. Shannon is spot on. If there was no Power of Attorney, there is no way this guy stole that money. The best here is that Ohtani was helping his friend. If Ohtani was betting on sports, as long as it wasn't on Baseball, I don't think it should matter, but if he was betting on Baseball, he needs to be disciplined the same way as Pete Rose. If they don't do that, then Pete Rose should be reinstated.
The interpreter was probably the one who helped open his US accounts in the first place, POA or joint access makes perfect sense. Ohtani really trusted this man.
@@lil.glimpse That is another lie. Listen..if that were TRUE. The first thing he would have said was “Ippei had power of attorney and stole the money” The end. Not the first lie of helping bail him out of a debt by paying NINE installments. If he was helping bail him out..why did he pay in INSTALLMENTS? Did he pay after each time Ippei lost? Come on. He gambled!! Stop wanting to believe your hero. He is a lying.
Ippei first met Shohei while interpreting for the Fighters in 2013 when he was 19 years old, and they were like brother's Ippei even said he spent more time with Shohei then his own wife because the schedule and travel. Shohei gave Ippei alot of trust and access to all his private and personal informatuon, including his finances. I just saw an interview on Jeffrey J. Hall show he said, Is it hard to believe that Ippei Mizuhara had access to Shohei Ohtani's bank account? No. It's quite plausible and normal, says Katsunori Kojima, a former interpreter for the Mets/Giants. He handled financial transactions himself for players because of the trust and the schedule they have.
Yes, it's pretty common than people think because I myself also managed 2 Japanese people's bank accounts in the US; one was for my long time friend who left the US for Japan permanently. Another one is a Japanese founder of a big corporation who lived in the US half of his time as I was his secretary. And this kind of super rich people especially like Otani not only gets his big income, but they also have some more big income from the sponsors, TV commercials, etc., so big money comes in and out many times. However, I heard for Otani's case, Otani may had Ippei manage one or two of his accounts for Otani's expense and also for charity. Otani has been donating a lot of money to Japanese children. However, now as Otani said "Ippei accessed to my bank account without my permission" Ippei may have stolen Otani's bank info or used it while Otani may have given it to Ippei for occasional expense for Otani, which makes Ippei even look worse..
@@sasssports9664when you make as much as Shoehei and like most athlete that focuses on training and their sport I can see him not tracking his money well.
@@123FUG33 completely agree with you. But for wire transfer to be made you need authorisation from the account holder. So the interpreter had to have told him that he was transferring the money.
@@alexanderperez9024 ... Giamatti was right, when Pete Rose was banned..... MLB, should now ban Othani, if they dont do it, then everyone could be fixing and throwing games.
Ban him if he gets caught not while being investigated. You want him banned now and it comes out his interpreter actually stole money like that doesn’t make sense No proof he even bet on baseball, as of right now Pete rose and ohtani are two extremely different scenarios
I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did is so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number (routing number). I can change my name to Shohei and send the money, in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult (have to fill out a self service form) And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information of the bank.
Ippei first met Shohei while interpreting for the Fighters in 2013 when he was 19 years old, and they were like brother's Ippei even said he spent more time with Shohei then his own wife because the schedule and travel. Shohei gave Ippei alot of trust and access to all his private and personal informatuon, including his finances. I just saw an interview on Jeffrey J. Hall show he said, Is it hard to believe that Ippei Mizuhara had access to Shohei Ohtani's bank account? No. It's quite plausible and normal, says Katsunori Kojima, a former interpreter for the Mets/Giants. He handled financial transactions himself for players because of the trust and the schedule they have.
I'm really good at English for a Japanese, but when I opened a bank account in the US, I couldn't understand almost anything so I had to get a translator. Financial things are complicated and overwhelming for non-natives, so I'm 100% sure Ippei was the person who set up Ohtani's bank account and he was always the person in charge for various financial things just like Ohtani's mother did for Ohtani in Japan to let Ohtani just focus on Baseball. (Ohtani had been receiving only $1000 every month from his mother but he made $20000 savings when he ended the career in Japan ham fighters) English and Japanese are very different. It's not like English and French. Japanese is one of the most different languages in the world and this is why most Japanese people can't speak or understand English at all. Ippei is a guy who lied everything. His career and university background were both his lies. If Ohtani and Ippei say something different, you should always ignore what ippei says. After the gambling manager got arrested, he already said to the police that it was always Ippei who was gambling absolutely not Ohtani, and he also mentioned that the reason why he let Ippei have that huge amount of debt was simply because he knew Ippei was Ohtani's best friend.
A translator's job is to translate everything. Opening a bank account, signing a new lease, buying a car, going to a doctor, everything he does in life. The translator is present all the times, including calls, emails, and any documents containing sensitive info.
@@rolandmarkland6844Yes, you’re absolutely right since Shohei always knew how to speak English, was born in England, and didn’t slowly learn over time. You are a smart man. A genius, in fact. And he’s so fluent in English he doesn’t even really need a translator. The fact that he even has a translator at this point is some serious smokescreen.
@@JumboJuneau Why are you so emotional? Do you dudes have a life outside of living vicariously through your heroes? Ohtani gambled. He told two stories. He is lying.
No idea what is the truth as of yet, but the fact that people think it is so impossible for Ippei to have done this is stupid. He had access to all of Shohei's information and could easily pull of this fraud. He is his interpreter, if the bank called to check on a transaction it is likely Ippei was the one fielding that call not Shohei.
@@ChristineY-w4r I know right. Even right here on TH-cam, I keep getting videos about how people been stealing crazy amounts of money for years without anyone knowing.
The guy use to earn millions and sent it all to his parents whilst he lived of 300$ a month in Japan. Yeah hes not a gambler. Baseball baseball baseball is what he lives for.
Ohtani has never looked into his own finances. When he was a multi millionaire in Japan, his mom handled his finances. Shohei would get an allowance and lived in the team dorms. The vast cultural difference between Japanese baseball culture and American culture should also be brought up. Americans care more about money than Japanese players do. It's not far fetched to think that Ippei had enough power to 1. Embezle money or 2. Fool Ohtani into thinking he was signing off transactions that weren't related to gambling
Given how the Japanese are and the language barriers, I bet Ippei has a lot of dealings in crafting the image of Ohtani etc.. American culture is vastly different. Being an interpreter means you can lie or take advantage of speaking for Ohtani twisting things or meanings over a while. Ippei was basically his personal assistant at that level I wouldn't be surprised that Ippei isn't at the bank with him guiding him through transactions etc.
The one ray of hope for people who want to believe that Shohei didn't do anything wrong and is an actual victim here is the fact that for almost everything in his professional life, Ippei Mizuhara was directly involved, and Shohei has to put trust in him to provide information to him about what is happening. He is a direct conduit to the entire English speaking world. Even the last point, where the Dodgers hadn't communicated to Shohei, it's likely that they probably attempted to do so through Ippei, and those communications didn't happen for obvious reasons. In the end, Shohei likely relied on Ippei to handle a lot of his business because of that trust, and because it was more efficient, and when he gets burned, Ippei is in a prime position to prevent Shohei from knowing what's happening. We will have to wait for the investigations and reports to find more things out because this is tied to pending litigation, but hopefully Shohei's story ends up being accurate, because if not, this will damage his legacy at best and could destroy his career at worst.
Yeah my uncle’s bookkeeper stole $5M from the company and my uncle didn’t know either. It’s easier than you think and it’s more common than you think.. let’s all be careful ❤
Too much money on the line to not defend Shohei. Even if there is a shred of evidence against Shohei found, it'll be swept under the rug. Shohei will never be convicted.
Something tells me E-pay had power of attorney. That guy was doing a lot more than just interpreting for Ohtani. It's a screwed up situation and I can see why people would be skeptical about it but I have my faith in Ohtani and the fact Ohtani is cooperating with the authorities while E-pay is in hiding speaks volumes too and evidence of him lying multiple times including what school he went to, work history, attending a casino school, etc. I just want the investigations to continue so we get the whole truth to fully clear this cloud that's hanging on Ohtani's head. It's bad enough he's been betrayed by a guy that he spent all of his adult life with for 12 years.
Even if he didn’t, he was Ohtani’s mouthpiece. He could’ve easily gone to whoever handles his money and said Ohtani wanted such and such transactions made. They would most likely have power of attorney and trusted Ippei at his word. It’s not hard to understand how it could’ve happened.
So if he had power of attorney, wouldn’t that give Ippei some right to do things with the money? If Shohei gave him power on his bank account, that’s on Shohei. I mean, this was happening over the course of two plus years. How the heck would Ohtani or his team not know 4.5 million was taken out of his account when he only has $50 million or so net worth right now? Something is not adding up.
The trolls have been knocking Ohtani for three years, the haters need to get a life, comes on accussing someone without facts. We all know why the trolls dislike Shohei 1st-he's one of the best players in the game 2nd-he's Asian and the face of baseball 3rd-he's the highest paid player (deserves it he's like Cole and Judge as one player) but everytime the trolls come on and criticize the great Unicorn it only makes the trolls look like a fool.
LOL crazy how entitled people are like the person that replied to you that they can't be lied to by someone about something that has nothing to do with you🤣
@@trevorcarey3997 presence of haters disregard all relevant information about the case? I don't know this player and don't care about baseball but really now? You have to look all of it a objective perspective if you want him to innocent
It would have been easy to fool Otani, who cannot read or speak English. If he had not been discovered, he would have taken more money. I think this incident has taught Japanese athletes who are going to the U.S. that it is important to learn English or choose a partner who understands English and a reliable interpreter.
He had a donation account. He is rich now. He separated account for main account and donation account. As Japanese, it is very difficult for me to go through every english document even bank transfers. I understand his situation.
There's nothing that proves Shohei is guilty of anything, he did'nt sign any check to make payments and the wire transfer were done in computer, which Ippei had access to. People got to understand there's clients employer's and workers that embezzle and steal money from owner's of the bussines they work for all the time. I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did is so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number (routing number). I can change my name to Shohei and send the money, in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult (have to fill out a self service form) And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information of the bank.
I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did wad so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number, routing number. I can change my name and send the money in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult, have to fill out a self service form. And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information and trust.
I think Shohei giving Ippei "power of attorney" over his funds is completely logical. Shohei gave his own mother control over his finances when he played in Japan because he didn't want to be bothered with such issues. I have no problem seeing Ippei earning Shohei's trust to the point where he was also given access to the latter's finances, thus having full reign over Shohei's money, and using it to pay for his own gambling debt. He wouldn't be the first, nor sadly will he be the last, athlete to be scammed out of a ridiculous amount of money by people close to them. Ippei had lived in the U.S. for a while before Ohtani went there, so it makes sense that he helped him open a bank account as well, granting himself access to it as well. Of course Shohei could be guilty, but I think so far his version is consistent.
If he gave Ippie power of attorney, then that’s on Shohei. How do you not get any text messages or phone calls from the bank to verify if this was you or not? And if Ippie has power of attorneys, then wouldn’t he have a right to Shohei’s money and where it goes? That is on Shohei for being clueless and naive.
@@Harcorwrestlerwho do you think translates English messages and calls from the bank? Who do you think Ohtani talks to translate everything English for him?
@@sb17146 The banks aren’t stupid. They will have their own translator to make sure nothing gets lost in translation. You think this is the first time a bank has dealt with a translator for someone else’s account. Banks aren’t dumb and they handling millions of dollars. You better believe they had their own translator.
@@lil.glimpse he speaks English casually, probably speaks English in a baseball setting. But for everything else outside of baseball, Ippei does the "speaking".
Shohei Ohtani’s 2023 2024 off season 1. Spent about 6million dollars donating gloves to every elementary school in Japan. 2. Donated 1 million dollars with Dodgers after the earthquake struck Japan on January 1st 3. Bought 150 to 200 thousand dollars worth Porsche for Kelly’s wife. 4. Signed with the Dodgers 5. Prob paid million dollar for taxes 6. Had TJ and rehab. 7. Got married. Maybe 4.5 million dollars flew under the radar
ESPN really need a good lawyer when alot of their panelist accusing Othani on wrong doing even before knowing the full story , at least wait until all clear.
The man on the left side of the screen knows nothing about their relationship. The only people who don't believe in Ohtani don't know anything about him. I was surprised to see so many people comparing the accounts of millionaires and ordinary citizens.
i think its easy to prove if anyone later comes out and says they see OHTANI gamble throughout his life or money wired from the actual OHTANI and not by IPPEI....it will come out....IF ur innocent then nothing can be said by anyone
@@dougphamtexas2707 We're talking about a billion dollar athlete from a multi billion dollar foreign market in a multi billion dollar US sport. If you think the outcome will be based on truth and justice as a first priority I have a bridge to sell you.
@@alanyt2000 they will try to dig out the truth im telling u......like i said there will be people who saw OHTANI making a bet or through someone etc....if u have a gambling problem ,.....everyone is going to know including ur family friends...etc.......hard to keep it a secret....
With such a massive cultural and linguistic barrier, Ohtani's entire experience in the US was mediated through Mizuhara. Ohtani knew what Mizuahara told him, and trusted him to express what he told him in Japanese. We can't imagine how much of a barrier this is. Of course Ohtani had to trust Misuahara to translate everything he experienced, not just heard, said or read. Try visiting Japan and doing even the simplest transaction at a Starbucks and you'll understand how little Ohtani could have known when Mizuhara had chosen to mislead him about anything.
So the dodgers didn’t tell ohtani about his interpreter stealing from him. And had epay in the locker room telling he stole ?! Bro what. So nobody knew anything. Everyone was in the dark. Dodgers epay and ohtani ha 😂😅
Assistant stolen money from their rich boss is more common than you think. And Ippei is like that to shohei, he's not only interpreter. He handling his business everyday.😂 When I worked as an interpreter, I had to assist the players on just about every aspect of their daily lives. These include: opening bank accounts, taking them to DMV to get licenses, and setting up utilities. I also carried their check books on the road for clubhouse dues. Those who know his upbringing and personality know that he is an honest person. Ohtani is completely innocent👍
This is a very solid perspective, but doesn’t mean it’s the case here. I respect the experience and knowledge on the subject, ohtani does seem like a humble guy, but doesn’t mean he’s honest to the media.
Mr. Mizuhara, who is embroiled not only in gambling but also in suspicions of resume fraud, has faced increasing scrutiny. The same media outlet stated, "He was widely reported to have attended universities in the United States and worked for two MLB teams, but significant discrepancies have emerged in his background. Since this scandal broke, Mizuhara's situation appears to worsen with each passing day."
You dont need to walk into a bank to wire money. that's why most athletes have business managers that handle their money to do their transactions held at their managers' office. It's not like an athlete will be able to communicate with their circle about every transaction going on financially. That's part of the reason why an assistant, as in this case, the interpreter, was also part of Shohei's circle to handle the off the field activities as well. However, this has happened to a lot of athletes where their money does indeed get stolen from someone in their circle for their own gain
Why did ESPN interviewed Ippey, not Skohei? The money was sent from Shoheis account. They should have interviewed Shohei Otani in the first place. They made a big mistake, which caused a big mess. Now, Shohei suffers from the consequential of this mistake.
I believe Shohei. When I came to the US, i couldn’t speak English so I had my bilingual friend help me open my bank accounts. She was able to steal money from one of accounts if she wanted. I wasn’t rich like Shohei so she had no money to steal anyway from the account though lol.
As someone who lived in Japan, they have to understand the Japanese culture first. That's why their arguments are quite ignorant. 1) Ippei is ~10 years older than Shohei. In Japanese culture, even though Shohei is the star, he also has some respect for Ippei as he is older. 2) Japanese have a trusting culture. That's why crime is low in Japan. However, that's also why it's easy to trick people. 3) Shohei can't read/speak English well. So it's even easier to trick him if he doesn't understand what's going on. 4) In Japan, people don't often check their bank balance compared to the US where there are many bank apps.
@@hamhockbeans so there's no proof yet that he bet on baseball, yet you assume he did and want him to get the pete rose treatment. so yea, you and all the other people WANT ohtani to be guilty so bad.
Shannon needs to remember the fact that Shohei came to the states with no understanding of english whatsoever. So its not entirely crazy to think that Ippei helped him open these bank accounts and had access to them.
The speculation about whether or not Ippei was named on Ohtani's account is stupid because it's very easily provable one way or the other. Either the documentation backing Ohtani's story exists or it doesn't. If it does, show it and clear his name so that everyone can move on. If it doesn't exist, that's a problem.
I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did is so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number (routing number). I can change my name to Shohei and send the money, in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult (have to fill out a self service form) And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information of the bank (especially if it's Shohei's personal banker and gives approval to Iippei to make transactions in the past).
@@trevorcarey3997then the bank can get a lawsuit cause shohei says he had no idea that he was doing that 😂 so then he would get all that money back , but if he isn't filing a lawsuit on the bank then that means he had your info and you willingly let him do that and that would means yall both are lying 😂
@@trevorcarey3997Bro stop lying you are definitely capping you can transfer $40 from somebody account without the big people asking where is it going So if you're trying to do it with 4 million trust me the bank manager is asking questions
@@marcelmarshall4240 I'm not saying he did or didn't do anything. I'm saying that we don't have to speculate about stuff like whether Ippei had access to the account because it's very provable. Ohtani's people can answer a lot of questions by just providing documentation to back his story. The longer they don't, the worse it looks for him.
does it mention it is made via online transfer? because most banks now has online banking app and you dont need to be the owner of the account in order to make the transfer, what you need is just the login account and security code.
Several interpreters have come out and said it's common for them to handle bank accounts for their clients. If you have really been paying attention, Ippei lied about his education, his previous work, etc. Guy lied to ESPN about Sho paying, lied to Sho's people, then got caught.
Bro shii is wack that's tooo many games to keep up with and not enough action 😂 there's March madness , nfl draft, nba draft nba playoffs , wnba playoffs, Olympics , start of the nfl season , nba g league , nhl playoffs are just way more intriguing during baseball season
I can imagine that it's difficult for most Americans who do not know Ohtani's history and upbringing in Japan, including how he was even at the Angels to believe fully what Ohtani explained is believable and truth. But as a Japanese who have followed him in Japan and as he moved to MLB, I can attest that what he said is 100% believable. Ohtani since he was a young boy was very focused with specific goals set and worked diligently on the path to achieving them. His parents and especially his mother was instrumental in providing the support he needed so that he can focus 100% on his tasks (the baseball). This is why if you are a baseball fan in Japan, and this is a very well known story in Japan, everyone knows that Ohtani's mother took 100% control of his money (income and expenses) and the set up was simple for Ohtani in that she gave him monthly allowance of very little money. Ohtani used team dormitory and team meals 100% to focus on baseball. This is how he lived in Japan as a NPB player era. Ohtani is known to be frugal and does not spend money like normal pro athletes do. He is not interested in fashion, clothing, shoes, cars, basically not interested in tangible material stuff. Again, this is very well known in Japan about him. Ippei Mizuhara was smart in that he put himself in the position with Ohtani to take care of all of his personal duties out side of baseball so that Ohtani can just focus on baseball as he did in Japan. The identical set up that he had with his mother. Ippei was a perfect man for it and Ohtani trusted him 100%. So in this context, it is very plausible and most likely the case that Ippei had this role (similar to the role Ohtani's mother had in Japan) for Ohtani since he became MLB player. Ippei is not just a translator for Ohtani. Ippei was essentially Ohtani's personal caretaker, personal assistant, consultant, butler, driver, shopper who took care of all Ohtani's needs to live in USA. He therefore had access to Ohtani's bank accounts and was probably helping him on setting up the payables, bills for his expenses etc etc. Don't forget, Ohtani has no experience managing his own money in the past, he is also oblivious to all the living expenses especially in the USA. Ippei was the perfect friend and paid worker for him to do these tasks. In this set up, Ippei can easily transfer Ohtani's money, even 4.5 million without Ohtani knowing (again, Ohtani has been very naive, trusting and indifferent about money matters, except that he knows that he has been getting 50 to 75 million per year on endorsement and baseball contracts even in the past years, so 4.5 million may not be so significant in this light and could not be noticeable if he was trusting Ippei to manage). Agent is there to deal with the baseball contracts and he is not Japanese so he would not have known his personal contents. This is why Ippei is said to have been paid upwards of $400,000 per year to work for Ohtani, where as a regular personal translator working 9 to 5 is paid $150,000ish for a pro-athlete. Don't forget that Ippei was in between all communications between Ohtani and his team members, including the team management, spokesperson, lawyers, essentially every non-Japanese speaker on this side, which is everyone except Yamamoto and Ippei. Ippei was in a perfect position to manipulate all information and communications. So you guys take a rest on speculating and jumping to conclusion about Ohtani in this situation. Eventually the investigation will shed a better light on what I am talking
You believe a guy, that you don’t know personally, because he’s from same country as you. All signs point to him knowing and just letting his translator take the fall.
If the interpreter stole the money, then he would have faked his identity to transfer the money. He's not going to say, "Chase Bank? Hi, this is Ippei Mizuhara, and I want to transfer $250,000 to a bookie without Ohtani's permission. I know his PIN numbers."
If that were true, there should be voice records as phone calls are recorded. The truth will come out eventually of whose voice it was on the phone with the bank.
@@mouseinthehouse_ again bank transfers are a whole different ball game. Banks still voice verify with whomever the name on the bank account is associated with. And that is Ohtani.
Ippei reportedly made more than just 2 transfers from Ohtanis account..it was around 9...so the other 7 were likely 500k too....cuz the grand total is the exact amount missing, 4.5 mil.
Shohei is innocent. Shohei truly relied and believed in Ippei while living in foreign country and not fully understanding English. For this reason he was betrayed and lost 4.5 million from a liar. Let the investigation continue on how Ippei was able to transfer the money from Ohtani's account. This is something only Ippei knows. Shannon said it is impossible. Well Shannon now learn from Ippei how it was possible.
The only part of what you said that we know for sure is true is "let the investigation continue". Just because Shohei has made plausible claims doesn't mean those claims are true or false. People who are taking either side at this point are doing so out of emotion and intuition only, so let the facts come out before looking foolish later.
@@proteuswest1084 we do know for a fact that Shohei does live in a foreign country and he does not fully understand English. This may support why he was so reliant on Ippei. Also, Ippei making false resume is also an evidence of losing his credibility. If Ippei comes out of cave and explains how it was possible to transfer the money from Ohtani's account, then the case is pretty much closed. Until then, let the investigation continue.
Jessica brings up an interesting point, however if I were the Dodgers Org. who is on the hook for 800mil to Shohei, I’m keeping it internal to collect the facts to protect their interest first. That is why they didn’t say anything to him at jump.
Ohtani's new interpreter missed many of critical details(specially timing of the events) and nuance of what Ohtani said, the interpreter was rather simplified in his interpretation and much more stressed on the fact that Ohtani has never involved any gambling nor financing of that sort. I trust the interpreter is very good what he does, but the subject matter requires more detailed interpretation to convey what Ohtani explained. Though I understand that it is hard to deliver perfect interpretation immediately at the spot. Ohtani was very clear and articulating the order of the events (the chronicle of the event) despite his emotional distress of learning what his trusted person for many years as his own family or a best friend actually has done. Ohtani said that it's beyond he could express in words. He was very sincere throughout the conference. Ohtani said how he learned about this: 1. right after the first game when there was press conference occurred, he didn't understand what was exactly spoken between Ippei Mizuhara and the press because it was all in English. At the time Mizuhara told Ohtani he would explain about it after they went back to the hotel. Ohtani didn't get whole details but sensed something was seriously not right. 2. when they got back to hotel they had meeting and Mizuhara told Ohtani what happened, that's how Ohtani first time he learned about what happened. That's when Ohtani learned about what Mizuhara has done first time. Then he contacted his representatives. I was hoping that there wouldn't be some misunderstanding from only English speaking audiences because some details and the timing were not translated. Ohtani really trusted Mizuhara, I sensed that Ohtani's sadness was more than what we could imagine. And I agree with @trevorcarey3997: I just saw an interview on Jeffrey J. Hall show he said, Is it hard to believe that Ippei Mizuhara had access to Shohei Ohtani's bank account? No. It's quite plausible and normal, says Katsunori Kojima, a former interpreter for the Mets/Giants. He handled financial transactions himself for players because of the trust and the schedule they have.
Some people suspect that Shohei Otani used Ippei as a scapegoat to get away with the crime, but that goes too far. His stats are such that he is said to be a one-in-a-century talent in the major leagues. That's the answer. A player with such a miraculous track record would not waste his time gambling. He's not like Pete Rose, and he's one of the best pitchers in the world. That's the answer.
Jeff Passan answered after Shannon said that smh😅 It's common for international Japanese translators to be needed for several roles other than translator..he could've had access easily.
Wait, so some people in the team already knew that FBI or somebody were looking for something to do with Ohtani gambling possibility prior to Ippei confession to the team correct? Then why Ohtani didn't know?
It's telling that the person that the team and crisis PR firm put with an ESPN interviewer for 90 minutes wasn't Shohei himself, but his interpreter. There was a lot of trust that he was not a bad actor, and about the only thing we do know is that on some level, he was. He was Shohei's voice, and everything Shohei knows about what is happening filters through him, so even if the team tried to speak to Shohei or tell him about what's going on, it still goes through his interpreter first. People don't think about what kind of power you have when you can manipulate the chain of communication.
@proteuswest1084 .. but they’re in LA not Wichita.. Ippei isn’t the only person that speaks Japanese and English lol.. and every financial institution in LA has people on staff that speak Japanese.. all documents can be written in Japanese.. it’s a pretty common language (especially in Los Angeles).. the dodgers have multiple people in the building that speak Japanese.. the LA Times employs Japanese speakers.. the FBI 1000% employs Japanese speakers.. And Shohei may not be the best English speaker, but he understands enough to catch a gist.. I’m not trying to make him out to be guilty (and I don’t even care if he gambled, personally).. but the language barrier is a weak argument, under the circumstances.. and if he sends his buddy to prison for grand larceny and wire fraud and that’s not what happened, I think that would be way worse than betting on some games..
@@gbmbg114Why would Ohtani need a hundred Japanese speakers when he has one that he trusts that already does everything for him? What you are asking for isn’t realistic.
@mouseinthehouse_ .. I’m not saying all of those people need to speak Japanese.. I’m saying that if there are questionable transactions and activities taking place with his account (yes, 9 transfers of $500k to the same dude is sketchy.. and requires reporting to the IRS and tax forms), there’s no reason for him not to get that information.. the language barrier wouldn’t and shouldn’t be an excuse for one of these institutions or one of his representatives to raise a red flag to him directly.. same goes for the interview that *his* camp set up for Ippei to do with ESPN.. no one even mentioned it to Shohei until a day after the interview?? That’s super dangerous, if true.. To me, it’s unrealistic to be handcuffed to one person to handle EVERYTHING.. I understand that Ippei was more than an interpreter and I get it.. but without credentials or being a fiduciary, you can’t be my assistant, accountant, attorney, PR person, my personal shopper, personal banker, my tax guy, etc. etc…. That’s negligence on Shohei’s part.. he’s essentially the CEO of a billion dollar corporation.. no one else running a billion dollar corporation is entrusting the whole thing to one other person and then not checking in on any of it.. those other jobs exist for a reason.. part of hiring them individually is for protection of your assets and image.. everyone he’s involved with dropped the ball.. or, there’s more to the story..
If what he says is true why hasn’t he filed a criminal complaint and why hasn’t he sued the bank for not protecting his banked assets. The only reason is that by taking either action the police have a reason to investigate and the bank is entitled to defend themselves.
He knew as Ippei had lied to OOTANI and without his authority ippei had accessed Ohtani’s bank account and wire some dollars ..ended up with draining all of Ohtani’s money ..that was all Ohtani’s Shohei has been worked very hard and earned honestly
it wasn't no one told Shohei. It's because "Ippei IS Shohei Ohtani." Ippei was the speaker of Shohei. Remember, Shohei isn't good at English. (At least not good enough dealing with complicate situations. ) Anything he communicated with other team members was prob thru Ippei. You want to tell Shohei something, you told Ippei and ask him to translate or to talk to Shohei.
1:28 It's actually not that hard. Banks like Charles Schwabe has a 100K wire transfer daily limit and can be increased for high net worth individuals. Ippei just needs access to Ohtani's online banking account, he doesn't need POA.
“Ohtani didn’t explain how Ippei accessed his account“ Ask Ippei, not Ohtani.😂 Can you explain how the criminal stole money when it disappeared from your account?
I don't take a side and I don't know to what extent Ohtani was involved but for sure MLB has to get to the bottom of this. To find out if A. There was betting on baseball and B. The possibility of throwing games. This was an extraordinary amount of money not chump change. The angels organization are probably wondering too hey this guy played for us for years how deep does this thing go?
I don't think Ippei was given access to Shohei's accounts. But since they spent so much time together, Ippei was probably able to somehow get Shohei's banking information without Shohei knowing. Maybe his bank account password etc. He had so much trust in him, that he probably didn't feel the need to lock away things that he should have. WRT to what Shannon said about the bank calling him. They probably did call Shohei about the transfers, but it probably was Ippei who answered the phone and approved them. The Bank wouldn't know it wasn't Shohei on the phone. Shohei couldn't speak much English, so he probably had Ippei answering the phone for him.
i remember being billed for 2 netflix accounts only to notice it after a year. does that make me stupid as well. I'm saying this this can happen to anyone
The guy on the left is so emotional about the person who is the victim of the crime saying he should know how the criminal stole his money, lacking the ability to empathise and guess how it was like to experience such a huge pain, just keep repeating why why why… he should should and should etc.it’s police’s job to find out and better not to be reviled. What do you want to do with it anyway..?
I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did is so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number (routing number). I can change my name to Shohei and send the money, in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult (have to fill out a self service form) And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information of the bank.
Three possibilities here 1. Shohei was the one betting and ippei is the fall guy. 2. Ippei was the one betting and went to shohei for help, shohei helped with the debt no knowing that that made him legally liable. 3. Shohei knew nothing until the first statement released and thats when he found out he was stolen from. Personally i lean more towards 2. I believe ippei racked up the debt and got shohei to help. Shohei helped without knowing gambling is illegal in CA and helping with gambling debt is also illegal. I dont believe shohei was the one betting at all, i think he was either manipulated into helping without know the consequences of said help or he knew nothing at all and was stolen from.
I really hope Ohtani sue ESPN for damaging the image of Ohtani by releasing the interview with Mizuhara about Ohtani's money without any consent from Ohtani. Ohtani can get insane amount of money from each of these people related to this ESPN network.
Shannon Sharpe must have learned the word “ Power of Attorney “ right before this show. He kept repeating on it throughout his talk. He makes sense, though, if Ohtani was an athlete from USA. With a little of insight of how Ohtani came and lived in this country while focusing on playing baseball and what kind of roles Ippei Mizihara played in this dynamic relationship, Jeff makes a whole lot of sense.
![[UNCUT] The Loyal Pin ปิ่นภักดิ์ EP.15 (2/4)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qbHbshrA1f0/mqdefault.jpg)
Passan is right. People get ripped off all the time and it’s usually by people they trust implicitly. And I’m sure Ohtani trusted Ippei with LOTS of things, including accounts access.
Passan is a sucker for the MLB. He'll defend anyone to keep his own job. Ohtani could be Pete Rose for all we know
@@Zetty780 Absolutely right.
Shannon is spot on.
If there was no Power of Attorney, there is no way this guy stole that money.
The best here is that Ohtani was helping his friend.
If Ohtani was betting on sports, as long as it wasn't on Baseball, I don't think it should matter, but if he was betting on Baseball, he needs to be disciplined the same way as Pete Rose.
If they don't do that, then Pete Rose should be reinstated.
The interpreter was probably the one who helped open his US accounts in the first place, POA or joint access makes perfect sense. Ohtani really trusted this man.
I think ohtani helped his friend with first payment and because his interpreter had access took more.
Lol. The delusion of you fans is insane. The fact that he told two stories in two days makes he clear he lied. He gambled. Period.
Get real bro he knew what he was doin
@@marcelmarshall4240 There's two sides to the story and someone is definitely lying. None of it adds up.
@@lil.glimpse That is another lie. Listen..if that were TRUE. The first thing he would have said was “Ippei had power of attorney and stole the money” The end. Not the first lie of helping bail him out of a debt by paying NINE installments. If he was helping bail him out..why did he pay in INSTALLMENTS? Did he pay after each time Ippei lost? Come on. He gambled!! Stop wanting to believe your hero. He is a lying.
Ippei first met Shohei while interpreting for the Fighters in 2013 when he was 19 years old, and they were like brother's Ippei even said he spent more time with Shohei then his own wife because the schedule and travel. Shohei gave Ippei alot of trust and access to all his private and personal informatuon, including his finances. I just saw an interview on Jeffrey J. Hall show he said, Is it hard to believe that Ippei Mizuhara had access to Shohei Ohtani's bank account? No. It's quite plausible and normal, says Katsunori Kojima, a former interpreter for the Mets/Giants. He handled financial transactions himself for players because of the trust and the schedule they have.
Yes, it's pretty common than people think because I myself also managed 2 Japanese people's bank accounts in the US; one was for my long time friend who left the US for Japan permanently. Another one is a Japanese founder of a big corporation who lived in the US half of his time as I was his secretary. And this kind of super rich people especially like Otani not only gets his big income, but they also have some more big income from the sponsors, TV commercials, etc., so big money comes in and out many times. However, I heard for Otani's case, Otani may had Ippei manage one or two of his accounts for Otani's expense and also for charity. Otani has been donating a lot of money to Japanese children. However, now as Otani said "Ippei accessed to my bank account without my permission" Ippei may have stolen Otani's bank info or used it while Otani may have given it to Ippei for occasional expense for Otani, which makes Ippei even look worse..
@@user-wr9lh4ly1n This makes sense! Still it is hard to justify 4.5m being sent out without Shoei having any knowledge! No?
@@sasssports9664when you make as much as Shoehei and like most athlete that focuses on training and their sport I can see him not tracking his money well.
@@123FUG33 completely agree with you. But for wire transfer to be made you need authorisation from the account holder. So the interpreter had to have told him that he was transferring the money.
I agree with Jeff here. Truth will come out after all investigations are done. Haters just want Shohei to be banned from MLB now.
Are you naive??... go to any bank, and try to pay 2,000 bucks with some other guy's account.... you will see how Othani's statement is pure bullsheet.
@lil.glimpse ... hahahahaha,,,, oh man,,, you guys are either naive, or more dumb than shoei then... hahahahaha ...
@@alanrisk367praying on ohtani’s downfall… sad 😞😞
@@alexanderperez9024 ... Giamatti was right, when Pete Rose was banned..... MLB, should now ban Othani, if they dont do it, then everyone could be fixing and throwing games.
Ban him if he gets caught not while being investigated.
You want him banned now and it comes out his interpreter actually stole money like that doesn’t make sense
No proof he even bet on baseball, as of right now Pete rose and ohtani are two extremely different scenarios
After the fbi report that just came out now, ESPN owes shoehi an apology
I hate that shows like first take only talk about baseball when it’s controversial news and not in general
I agree. It speaks volumes about what depths sports reporting/discussion has fallen to.
💯💔💯💔💯💔💯💔
I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did is so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number (routing number). I can change my name to Shohei and send the money, in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult (have to fill out a self service form) And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information of the bank.
Baseball is only entertaining to the masters of mayo
Ippei first met Shohei while interpreting for the Fighters in 2013 when he was 19 years old, and they were like brother's Ippei even said he spent more time with Shohei then his own wife because the schedule and travel. Shohei gave Ippei alot of trust and access to all his private and personal informatuon, including his finances. I just saw an interview on Jeffrey J. Hall show he said, Is it hard to believe that Ippei Mizuhara had access to Shohei Ohtani's bank account? No. It's quite plausible and normal, says Katsunori Kojima, a former interpreter for the Mets/Giants. He handled financial transactions himself for players because of the trust and the schedule they have.
I'm really good at English for a Japanese, but when I opened a bank account in the US, I couldn't understand almost anything so I had to get a translator. Financial things are complicated and overwhelming for non-natives, so I'm 100% sure Ippei was the person who set up Ohtani's bank account and he was always the person in charge for various financial things just like Ohtani's mother did for Ohtani in Japan to let Ohtani just focus on Baseball. (Ohtani had been receiving only $1000 every month from his mother but he made $20000 savings when he ended the career in Japan ham fighters)
English and Japanese are very different. It's not like English and French. Japanese is one of the most different languages in the world and this is why most Japanese people can't speak or understand English at all.
Ippei is a guy who lied everything. His career and university background were both his lies. If Ohtani and Ippei say something different, you should always ignore what ippei says.
After the gambling manager got arrested, he already said to the police that it was always Ippei who was gambling absolutely not Ohtani, and he also mentioned that the reason why he let Ippei have that huge amount of debt was simply because he knew Ippei was Ohtani's best friend.
Okay Shannon, time to offer that apology, Unc!
A translator's job is to translate everything. Opening a bank account, signing a new lease, buying a car, going to a doctor, everything he does in life. The translator is present all the times, including calls, emails, and any documents containing sensitive info.
With that said, Ohtani speaks English. This whole interpreter angle looks like a big smoke screen.
@rolandmarkland6844 His English isn't good. Not sure where you found that information
@@rolandmarkland6844Yes, you’re absolutely right since Shohei always knew how to speak English, was born in England, and didn’t slowly learn over time. You are a smart man. A genius, in fact. And he’s so fluent in English he doesn’t even really need a translator. The fact that he even has a translator at this point is some serious smokescreen.
@@JumboJuneau Why are you so emotional? Do you dudes have a life outside of living vicariously through your heroes? Ohtani gambled. He told two stories. He is lying.
She doesn’t know how this information wasn’t relayed to Ohtani? Guess who would’ve been responsible for relaying that information. Ippei!!!!!!!!!!!1
His agent, bank, team, financial advisor, himself, manager, wife/gf. Would you like me to keep going?
@@SLSMe do we know for a fact that all of those people speak Japanese? Or would they convey the information to Ippei?
Exactly. Ohtani's entire experience has been mediated through Ippei, not just communications.
@@SLSMe and how does he talk to his agent, bank, team and financial advisor through his interpreter!
Some of you have a million and one excuses for dysfunctional behavior.
No idea what is the truth as of yet, but the fact that people think it is so impossible for Ippei to have done this is stupid.
He had access to all of Shohei's information and could easily pull of this fraud.
He is his interpreter, if the bank called to check on a transaction it is likely Ippei was the one fielding that call not Shohei.
So he’s a moron then
Yeah my uncle’s bookkeeper stole $5M from his company’s account and my uncle didn’t know 😅 fyi, it is possible and we should all be careful! ❤
@@ChristineY-w4r I know right. Even right here on TH-cam, I keep getting videos about how people been stealing crazy amounts of money for years without anyone knowing.
ESPN HATES OHTANI and are intentionally dragging him.
ESPN APOLOGIZE TO OHTANI NOW
The guy use to earn millions and sent it all to his parents whilst he lived of 300$ a month in Japan. Yeah hes not a gambler. Baseball baseball baseball is what he lives for.
Ohtani has never looked into his own finances. When he was a multi millionaire in Japan, his mom handled his finances. Shohei would get an allowance and lived in the team dorms. The vast cultural difference between Japanese baseball culture and American culture should also be brought up. Americans care more about money than Japanese players do. It's not far fetched to think that Ippei had enough power to 1. Embezle money or 2. Fool Ohtani into thinking he was signing off transactions that weren't related to gambling
Given how the Japanese are and the language barriers, I bet Ippei has a lot of dealings in crafting the image of Ohtani etc.. American culture is vastly different. Being an interpreter means you can lie or take advantage of speaking for Ohtani twisting things or meanings over a while. Ippei was basically his personal assistant at that level I wouldn't be surprised that Ippei isn't at the bank with him guiding him through transactions etc.
The one ray of hope for people who want to believe that Shohei didn't do anything wrong and is an actual victim here is the fact that for almost everything in his professional life, Ippei Mizuhara was directly involved, and Shohei has to put trust in him to provide information to him about what is happening. He is a direct conduit to the entire English speaking world. Even the last point, where the Dodgers hadn't communicated to Shohei, it's likely that they probably attempted to do so through Ippei, and those communications didn't happen for obvious reasons. In the end, Shohei likely relied on Ippei to handle a lot of his business because of that trust, and because it was more efficient, and when he gets burned, Ippei is in a prime position to prevent Shohei from knowing what's happening.
We will have to wait for the investigations and reports to find more things out because this is tied to pending litigation, but hopefully Shohei's story ends up being accurate, because if not, this will damage his legacy at best and could destroy his career at worst.
Shohei is innocent
Innocent like OJ right?
Million dollar missing from his bank account he didn’t know…that’s very fishy 😅
@@nicholasappelhans4987 Like Pete Rose 😅
we'll see
@@hamhockbeanshe ain’t bet on his own team tho
Yeah my uncle’s bookkeeper stole $5M from the company and my uncle didn’t know either. It’s easier than you think and it’s more common than you think.. let’s all be careful ❤
I will not have an opinion on this until the investigation is finished and all the details are out.
Too much money on the line to not defend Shohei. Even if there is a shred of evidence against Shohei found, it'll be swept under the rug. Shohei will never be convicted.
Stop clogging up the comment section then
We’ll be standing by for it.
@@stevem9203 lmao
@NatalieR-nu5bp Calm down. I might hate the Dodgers but I've always liked Ohtani. That will change if he's proven to be lying about this stuff.
Something tells me E-pay had power of attorney. That guy was doing a lot more than just interpreting for Ohtani. It's a screwed up situation and I can see why people would be skeptical about it but I have my faith in Ohtani and the fact Ohtani is cooperating with the authorities while E-pay is in hiding speaks volumes too and evidence of him lying multiple times including what school he went to, work history, attending a casino school, etc. I just want the investigations to continue so we get the whole truth to fully clear this cloud that's hanging on Ohtani's head. It's bad enough he's been betrayed by a guy that he spent all of his adult life with for 12 years.
Even if he didn’t, he was Ohtani’s mouthpiece. He could’ve easily gone to whoever handles his money and said Ohtani wanted such and such transactions made. They would most likely have power of attorney and trusted Ippei at his word. It’s not hard to understand how it could’ve happened.
@@Smallvillefreak Thank you both! I feel crazy that i had to scroll this hard to find a comment like this lol
@@kurtrogers9658You still believe Santa Klaus ate the cookies
So if he had power of attorney, wouldn’t that give Ippei some right to do things with the money? If Shohei gave him power on his bank account, that’s on Shohei. I mean, this was happening over the course of two plus years. How the heck would Ohtani or his team not know 4.5 million was taken out of his account when he only has $50 million or so net worth right now? Something is not adding up.
@@kurtrogers9658you believe in the Easter bunny don’t you? Shohei is lying.
We all know why everyone wants to take Ohtani down. Well... Some of you guys. 🤔🤔
Tbh no one cares but also, fans don’t want to be insulted by being lied to
The trolls have been knocking Ohtani for three years, the haters need to get a life, comes on accussing someone without facts. We all know why the trolls dislike Shohei 1st-he's one of the best players in the game 2nd-he's Asian and the face of baseball 3rd-he's the highest paid player (deserves it he's like Cole and Judge as one player) but everytime the trolls come on and criticize the great Unicorn it only makes the trolls look like a fool.
LOL crazy how entitled people are like the person that replied to you that they can't be lied to by someone about something that has nothing to do with you🤣
@@trevorcarey3997 presence of haters disregard all relevant information about the case? I don't know this player and don't care about baseball but really now? You have to look all of it a objective perspective if you want him to innocent
It would have been easy to fool Otani, who cannot read or speak English. If he had not been discovered, he would have taken more money. I think this incident has taught Japanese athletes who are going to the U.S. that it is important to learn English or choose a partner who understands English and a reliable interpreter.
He had a donation account. He is rich now. He separated account for main account and donation account. As Japanese, it is very difficult for me to go through every english document even bank transfers.
I understand his situation.
I find it funny how the interpreter didn’t bet on baseball like if he was a player himself
Illegal as employee
Its illegal if you work for MLB.
There's nothing that proves Shohei is guilty of anything, he did'nt sign any check to make payments and the wire transfer were done in computer, which Ippei had access to. People got to understand there's clients employer's and workers that embezzle and steal money from owner's of the bussines they work for all the time. I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did is so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number (routing number). I can change my name to Shohei and send the money, in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult (have to fill out a self service form) And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information of the bank.
I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did wad so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number, routing number. I can change my name and send the money in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult, have to fill out a self service form. And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information and trust.
The MLB rules apply to all employees, of which Mizuhara is one, not just players.
I think Shohei giving Ippei "power of attorney" over his funds is completely logical. Shohei gave his own mother control over his finances when he played in Japan because he didn't want to be bothered with such issues. I have no problem seeing Ippei earning Shohei's trust to the point where he was also given access to the latter's finances, thus having full reign over Shohei's money, and using it to pay for his own gambling debt. He wouldn't be the first, nor sadly will he be the last, athlete to be scammed out of a ridiculous amount of money by people close to them. Ippei had lived in the U.S. for a while before Ohtani went there, so it makes sense that he helped him open a bank account as well, granting himself access to it as well. Of course Shohei could be guilty, but I think so far his version is consistent.
If he gave Ippie power of attorney, then that’s on Shohei. How do you not get any text messages or phone calls from the bank to verify if this was you or not? And if Ippie has power of attorneys, then wouldn’t he have a right to Shohei’s money and where it goes? That is on Shohei for being clueless and naive.
@@Harcorwrestlerwho do you think translates English messages and calls from the bank? Who do you think Ohtani talks to translate everything English for him?
@@sb17146 The banks aren’t stupid. They will have their own translator to make sure nothing gets lost in translation. You think this is the first time a bank has dealt with a translator for someone else’s account. Banks aren’t dumb and they handling millions of dollars. You better believe they had their own translator.
@@lil.glimpse he speaks English casually, probably speaks English in a baseball setting. But for everything else outside of baseball, Ippei does the "speaking".
Shohei Ohtani’s 2023 2024 off season
1. Spent about 6million dollars donating gloves to every elementary school in Japan.
2. Donated 1 million dollars with Dodgers after the earthquake struck Japan on January 1st
3. Bought 150 to 200 thousand dollars worth Porsche for Kelly’s wife.
4. Signed with the Dodgers
5. Prob paid million dollar for taxes
6. Had TJ and rehab.
7. Got married.
Maybe 4.5 million dollars flew under the radar
I stand with shohei
ESPN really need a good lawyer when alot of their panelist accusing Othani on wrong doing even before knowing the full story , at least wait until all clear.
The man on the left side of the screen knows nothing about their relationship. The only people who don't believe in Ohtani don't know anything about him.
I was surprised to see so many people comparing the accounts of millionaires and ordinary citizens.
To prove innocent is much harder than proving guilty. Easiest way to prove Shohei’s innocence is proving guilty of Ippei.
Don’t really need to prove anything, Ippei has admitted everything.
Easy to "prove" anything when everyone wants the same result - Shohei coming out clean (no matter what actually happened)
i think its easy to prove if anyone later comes out and says they see OHTANI gamble throughout his life or money wired from the actual OHTANI and not by IPPEI....it will come out....IF ur innocent then nothing can be said by anyone
@@dougphamtexas2707 We're talking about a billion dollar athlete from a multi billion dollar foreign market in a multi billion dollar US sport. If you think the outcome will be based on truth and justice as a first priority I have a bridge to sell you.
@@alanyt2000 they will try to dig out the truth im telling u......like i said there will be people who saw OHTANI making a bet or through someone etc....if u have a gambling problem ,.....everyone is going to know including ur family friends...etc.......hard to keep it a secret....
With such a massive cultural and linguistic barrier, Ohtani's entire experience in the US was mediated through Mizuhara. Ohtani knew what Mizuahara told him, and trusted him to express what he told him in Japanese. We can't imagine how much of a barrier this is. Of course Ohtani had to trust Misuahara to translate everything he experienced, not just heard, said or read. Try visiting Japan and doing even the simplest transaction at a Starbucks and you'll understand how little Ohtani could have known when Mizuhara had chosen to mislead him about anything.
Yes most of these who are accusing Ohatani are just ignorant American comments.
Otani is innocent.
lol sure
If they had Stephen a smith on this topic he probably would’ve said something racist
“As a black man” lol
No the dodgers and otani must be punished
Wouldn’t be surprised blk ppl love to hate on Asians
@@MuhammadAli71835grow up little emotional girl
Stop it with the race baiting BS. If you don’t like the show with or without him stop watching. Male Karen
Shohei didnt buy groceries without ippei. Almost all transactions were ippei approved, including the debts being paid off.
So the dodgers didn’t tell ohtani about his interpreter stealing from him. And had epay in the locker room telling he stole ?! Bro what. So nobody knew anything. Everyone was in the dark. Dodgers epay and ohtani ha 😂😅
@@bigload9515 is that supposed to be english?
@@jaya1000 ohtani is busted 😂
@@jaya1000 that’s English. Or do you want it in Japanese for the other readers 😅😂 stay on topic clown talk sports not trash you lame anyway
@@jaya1000 lastly it’s BIG LA. Lakers foo
Assistant stolen money from their rich boss is more common than you think. And Ippei is like that to shohei, he's not only interpreter. He handling his business everyday.😂
When I worked as an interpreter, I had to assist the players on just about every aspect of their daily lives. These include: opening bank accounts, taking them to DMV to get licenses, and setting up utilities. I also carried their check books on the road for clubhouse dues.
Those who know his upbringing and personality know that he is an honest person.
Ohtani is completely innocent👍
This is a very solid perspective, but doesn’t mean it’s the case here. I respect the experience and knowledge on the subject, ohtani does seem like a humble guy, but doesn’t mean he’s honest to the media.
Mr. Mizuhara, who is embroiled not only in gambling but also in suspicions of resume fraud, has faced increasing scrutiny. The same media outlet stated, "He was widely reported to have attended universities in the United States and worked for two MLB teams, but significant discrepancies have emerged in his background. Since this scandal broke, Mizuhara's situation appears to worsen with each passing day."
So what ESPN lawyer say?
You dont need to walk into a bank to wire money. that's why most athletes have business managers that handle their money to do their transactions held at their managers' office. It's not like an athlete will be able to communicate with their circle about every transaction going on financially. That's part of the reason why an assistant, as in this case, the interpreter, was also part of Shohei's circle to handle the off the field activities as well. However, this has happened to a lot of athletes where their money does indeed get stolen from someone in their circle for their own gain
Long time disagreeing with Jeff... today he hit a Grand Slam.
Why did ESPN interviewed Ippey, not Skohei? The money was sent from Shoheis account. They should have interviewed Shohei Otani in the first place. They made a big mistake, which caused a big mess. Now, Shohei suffers from the consequential of this mistake.
I believe Shohei. When I came to the US, i couldn’t speak English so I had my bilingual friend help me open my bank accounts. She was able to steal money from one of accounts if she wanted. I wasn’t rich like Shohei so she had no money to steal anyway from the account though lol.
As someone who lived in Japan, they have to understand the Japanese culture first. That's why their arguments are quite ignorant.
1) Ippei is ~10 years older than Shohei. In Japanese culture, even though Shohei is the star, he also has some respect for Ippei as he is older.
2) Japanese have a trusting culture. That's why crime is low in Japan. However, that's also why it's easy to trick people.
3) Shohei can't read/speak English well. So it's even easier to trick him if he doesn't understand what's going on.
4) In Japan, people don't often check their bank balance compared to the US where there are many bank apps.
It’s not hard to wire money. All you need is the bank app on your phone. Most have a wire option
People want Ohtani to be guilty so bad
People want the same treatment Pete Rose got by the league.
people want him to be a victim so bad
@@hamhockbeansPete rose bet on baseball ⚾️ 😂😂😂
@@agendaxpushers1322so you want him to be guilty 😂😂😂
@@hamhockbeans so there's no proof yet that he bet on baseball, yet you assume he did and want him to get the pete rose treatment. so yea, you and all the other people WANT ohtani to be guilty so bad.
One of the most important values Japanese people treasure the most is honor. Hard to imagine these two going through this.
Money
You sound like a fool. Are the yakuza not Japanese ? So they’re all trustworthy because they are Japanese
lol espn only talks about baseball when there’s drama involved
So? Baseballs boring lol
What else is there to talk about. "Another nail-biting 1-0 game" so much fun
@@agentcodybanx8909you’re confusing baseball with soccer
Good!
@anthonysalerno1152 right, it's usually 0-0 before they have to go to extra innings.
What you gonna say now?
Huh??
2 gambling scandals in 2 different sports at the sametime...
Shannon needs to remember the fact that Shohei came to the states with no understanding of english whatsoever. So its not entirely crazy to think that Ippei helped him open these bank accounts and had access to them.
The speculation about whether or not Ippei was named on Ohtani's account is stupid because it's very easily provable one way or the other. Either the documentation backing Ohtani's story exists or it doesn't. If it does, show it and clear his name so that everyone can move on. If it doesn't exist, that's a problem.
I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did is so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number (routing number). I can change my name to Shohei and send the money, in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult (have to fill out a self service form) And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information of the bank (especially if it's Shohei's personal banker and gives approval to Iippei to make transactions in the past).
@@trevorcarey3997then the bank can get a lawsuit cause shohei says he had no idea that he was doing that 😂 so then he would get all that money back , but if he isn't filing a lawsuit on the bank then that means he had your info and you willingly let him do that and that would means yall both are lying 😂
@@trevorcarey3997Bro stop lying you are definitely capping you can transfer $40 from somebody account without the big people asking where is it going
So if you're trying to do it with 4 million trust me the bank manager is asking questions
Shohei is lying. He gambled. You kids are funny. Fandom blinds people. It’s crazy.
@@marcelmarshall4240 I'm not saying he did or didn't do anything. I'm saying that we don't have to speculate about stuff like whether Ippei had access to the account because it's very provable. Ohtani's people can answer a lot of questions by just providing documentation to back his story. The longer they don't, the worse it looks for him.
As baseball fan I really don’t like that first take only talks about baseball when there is a controversial topic
does it mention it is made via online transfer? because most banks now has online banking app and you dont need to be the owner of the account in order to make the transfer, what you need is just the login account and security code.
And the trend keeps going where a massive controversy is required for them to talk baseball. This is a football/basketball only show
ESPN once again playing the Clean Up roll.
Several interpreters have come out and said it's common for them to handle bank accounts for their clients. If you have really been paying attention, Ippei lied about his education, his previous work, etc. Guy lied to ESPN about Sho paying, lied to Sho's people, then got caught.
@@bluealvey Nice excuse lol
They're the one who dug this up lol
Shannon Sharpe the financial security expert
Umm he could have said he was Shohei And you don't have to go the bank physically to wire money.
Shannon being real right now!
Too real. Some big wig is gonna shut him up or shut him down.
A bit dramatic on my part 😂
His right hand man is taking the fall for him
Shannon is old school. He may not know people can process wires electronically. Either by email or online.
I hope First Take talks more baseball. Not only on Wednesday's.
Bro shii is wack that's tooo many games to keep up with and not enough action 😂 there's March madness , nfl draft, nba draft nba playoffs , wnba playoffs, Olympics , start of the nfl season , nba g league , nhl playoffs are just way more intriguing during baseball season
Hey Shannon: it’s called online banking 😂
naive comment
I was born last night too
You can’t wire that kind of money just through the web without several verification checks if even possible.
@@sensei9322You absolutely can if you know all the details as Ippei does as Ohtani’s manager.
@sensei9322 if he an Ohtani go to bank together, he could tell Ohtani anything and tell the bank another.
I can imagine that it's difficult for most Americans who do not know Ohtani's history and upbringing in Japan, including how he was even at the Angels to believe fully what Ohtani explained is believable and truth. But as a Japanese who have followed him in Japan and as he moved to MLB, I can attest that what he said is 100% believable.
Ohtani since he was a young boy was very focused with specific goals set and worked diligently on the path to achieving them. His parents and especially his mother was instrumental in providing the support he needed so that he can focus 100% on his tasks (the baseball). This is why if you are a baseball fan in Japan, and this is a very well known story in Japan, everyone knows that Ohtani's mother took 100% control of his money (income and expenses) and the set up was simple for Ohtani in that she gave him monthly allowance of very little money. Ohtani used team dormitory and team meals 100% to focus on baseball. This is how he lived in Japan as a NPB player era. Ohtani is known to be frugal and does not spend money like normal pro athletes do. He is not interested in fashion, clothing, shoes, cars, basically not interested in tangible material stuff. Again, this is very well known in Japan about him.
Ippei Mizuhara was smart in that he put himself in the position with Ohtani to take care of all of his personal duties out side of baseball so that Ohtani can just focus on baseball as he did in Japan. The identical set up that he had with his mother. Ippei was a perfect man for it and Ohtani trusted him 100%. So in this context, it is very plausible and most likely the case that Ippei had this role (similar to the role Ohtani's mother had in Japan) for Ohtani since he became MLB player. Ippei is not just a translator for Ohtani. Ippei was essentially Ohtani's personal caretaker, personal assistant, consultant, butler, driver, shopper who took care of all Ohtani's needs to live in USA. He therefore had access to Ohtani's bank accounts and was probably helping him on setting up the payables, bills for his expenses etc etc. Don't forget, Ohtani has no experience managing his own money in the past, he is also oblivious to all the living expenses especially in the USA. Ippei was the perfect friend and paid worker for him to do these tasks. In this set up, Ippei can easily transfer Ohtani's money, even 4.5 million without Ohtani knowing (again, Ohtani has been very naive, trusting and indifferent about money matters, except that he knows that he has been getting 50 to 75 million per year on endorsement and baseball contracts even in the past years, so 4.5 million may not be so significant in this light and could not be noticeable if he was trusting Ippei to manage). Agent is there to deal with the baseball contracts and he is not Japanese so he would not have known his personal contents. This is why Ippei is said to have been paid upwards of $400,000 per year to work for Ohtani, where as a regular personal translator working 9 to 5 is paid $150,000ish for a pro-athlete.
Don't forget that Ippei was in between all communications between Ohtani and his team members, including the team management, spokesperson, lawyers, essentially every non-Japanese speaker on this side, which is everyone except Yamamoto and Ippei. Ippei was in a perfect position to manipulate all information and communications.
So you guys take a rest on speculating and jumping to conclusion about Ohtani in this situation. Eventually the investigation will shed a better light on what I am talking
😂😂😅😅😅
You believe a guy, that you don’t know personally, because he’s from same country as you. All signs point to him knowing and just letting his translator take the fall.
I'm excited to see how Americans pull a 180 like that.😂😂😂😂😂
Bro, got that Ok Computer vinyl
I think Ohtani is innocent and Colin Cowherd has a compelling argument.
what does he know?
@@richardmedley7574 he made an argument. Go check yourself. It’s not crazy to believe that Ohtani was the VICTIM of a scam.
ESPNは大谷に謝罪をしてください。そんなこともできないならメディアとしてはアメリカのメディア史上最も最悪のメディアだ。
If the interpreter stole the money, then he would have faked his identity to transfer the money. He's not going to say, "Chase Bank? Hi, this is Ippei Mizuhara, and I want to transfer $250,000 to a bookie without Ohtani's permission. I know his PIN numbers."
If that were true, there should be voice records as phone calls are recorded. The truth will come out eventually of whose voice it was on the phone with the bank.
Go read up on what interpreters do for foreign players. Setting up bank accounts and managing money is absolutely one of the responsibilities
@@mouseinthehouse_ again bank transfers are a whole different ball game. Banks still voice verify with whomever the name on the bank account is associated with. And that is Ohtani.
imagine having so much money that $4.5 M can go "missing" and you don't even know.
Stop it he knows. He is the gambler. I used to gamble all the time and Asians are the biggest gamblers ever.
I've been to Miami a few times recently. Trust me, even for non celebrity people, it's very possible to not know millions are missing
Ippei reportedly made more than just 2 transfers from Ohtanis account..it was around 9...so the other 7 were likely 500k too....cuz the grand total is the exact amount missing, 4.5 mil.
@@williamannette558so all Asians are gamblers? 🤔
That would be awesome 😎
Shohei is innocent. Shohei truly relied and believed in Ippei while living in foreign country and not fully understanding English. For this reason he was betrayed and lost 4.5 million from a liar. Let the investigation continue on how Ippei was able to transfer the money from Ohtani's account. This is something only Ippei knows. Shannon said it is impossible. Well Shannon now learn from Ippei how it was possible.
The only part of what you said that we know for sure is true is "let the investigation continue". Just because Shohei has made plausible claims doesn't mean those claims are true or false. People who are taking either side at this point are doing so out of emotion and intuition only, so let the facts come out before looking foolish later.
The only way to wire money from an account is to be the account holder or have permission directly from the account holder
@@proteuswest1084 we do know for a fact that Shohei does live in a foreign country and he does not fully understand English. This may support why he was so reliant on Ippei. Also, Ippei making false resume is also an evidence of losing his credibility. If Ippei comes out of cave and explains how it was possible to transfer the money from Ohtani's account, then the case is pretty much closed. Until then, let the investigation continue.
@@jamiethomas5849 Yes, that is the idea. Let the investigation continue
Jessica brings up an interesting point, however if I were the Dodgers Org. who is on the hook for 800mil to Shohei, I’m keeping it internal to collect the facts to protect their interest first. That is why they didn’t say anything to him at jump.
Ohtani's new interpreter missed many of critical details(specially timing of the events) and nuance of what Ohtani said, the interpreter was rather simplified in his interpretation and much more stressed on the fact that Ohtani has never involved any gambling nor financing of that sort. I trust the interpreter is very good what he does, but the subject matter requires more detailed interpretation to convey what Ohtani explained. Though I understand that it is hard to deliver perfect interpretation immediately at the spot. Ohtani was very clear and articulating the order of the events (the chronicle of the event) despite his emotional distress of learning what his trusted person for many years as his own family or a best friend actually has done. Ohtani said that it's beyond he could express in words. He was very sincere throughout the conference. Ohtani said how he learned about this: 1. right after the first game when there was press conference occurred, he didn't understand what was exactly spoken between Ippei Mizuhara and the press because it was all in English. At the time Mizuhara told Ohtani he would explain about it after they went back to the hotel. Ohtani didn't get whole details but sensed something was seriously not right. 2. when they got back to hotel they had meeting and Mizuhara told Ohtani what happened, that's how Ohtani first time he learned about what happened. That's when Ohtani learned about what Mizuhara has done first time. Then he contacted his representatives. I was hoping that there wouldn't be some misunderstanding from only English speaking audiences because some details and the timing were not translated. Ohtani really trusted Mizuhara, I sensed that Ohtani's sadness was more than what we could imagine. And I agree with @trevorcarey3997: I just saw an interview on Jeffrey J. Hall show he said, Is it hard to believe that Ippei Mizuhara had access to Shohei Ohtani's bank account? No. It's quite plausible and normal, says Katsunori Kojima, a former interpreter for the Mets/Giants. He handled financial transactions himself for players because of the trust and the schedule they have.
I believe Ohtani is innocent and a victim. He said he will cooperate with the authorities. More details will come out. Let's wait for that day.
Some people suspect that Shohei Otani used Ippei as a scapegoat to get away with the crime, but that goes too far. His stats are such that he is said to be a one-in-a-century talent in the major leagues. That's the answer. A player with such a miraculous track record would not waste his time gambling. He's not like Pete Rose, and he's one of the best pitchers in the world. That's the answer.
Michael Jordan anyone?
He probably owes some Yukuza mob boss
Yakuza is practically dead in Japan. They’ve been completely outlawed to exist by the Japanese government.
I’m with Unc on this one. There’s no way that Ippei had access to that money without Ohtani signing off on it first.
Well when you have that much money idk especially if you really trust the person
He's either a liar or the most naive trusting person ever.
Otani didn’t know someone withdrew money from his bank account..that’s fishy..🤔
I completely agree! him and SAS are the only ones to even go there
Jeff Passan answered after Shannon said that smh😅
It's common for international Japanese translators to be needed for several roles other than translator..he could've had access easily.
Wait, so some people in the team already knew that FBI or somebody were looking for something to do with Ohtani gambling possibility prior to Ippei confession to the team correct? Then why Ohtani didn't know?
It's telling that the person that the team and crisis PR firm put with an ESPN interviewer for 90 minutes wasn't Shohei himself, but his interpreter. There was a lot of trust that he was not a bad actor, and about the only thing we do know is that on some level, he was. He was Shohei's voice, and everything Shohei knows about what is happening filters through him, so even if the team tried to speak to Shohei or tell him about what's going on, it still goes through his interpreter first. People don't think about what kind of power you have when you can manipulate the chain of communication.
And how does Ohtani know something? Through his interpreter…
@proteuswest1084 .. but they’re in LA not Wichita.. Ippei isn’t the only person that speaks Japanese and English lol.. and every financial institution in LA has people on staff that speak Japanese.. all documents can be written in Japanese.. it’s a pretty common language (especially in Los Angeles).. the dodgers have multiple people in the building that speak Japanese.. the LA Times employs Japanese speakers.. the FBI 1000% employs Japanese speakers.. And Shohei may not be the best English speaker, but he understands enough to catch a gist..
I’m not trying to make him out to be guilty (and I don’t even care if he gambled, personally).. but the language barrier is a weak argument, under the circumstances.. and if he sends his buddy to prison for grand larceny and wire fraud and that’s not what happened, I think that would be way worse than betting on some games..
@@gbmbg114Why would Ohtani need a hundred Japanese speakers when he has one that he trusts that already does everything for him? What you are asking for isn’t realistic.
@mouseinthehouse_ .. I’m not saying all of those people need to speak Japanese.. I’m saying that if there are questionable transactions and activities taking place with his account (yes, 9 transfers of $500k to the same dude is sketchy.. and requires reporting to the IRS and tax forms), there’s no reason for him not to get that information.. the language barrier wouldn’t and shouldn’t be an excuse for one of these institutions or one of his representatives to raise a red flag to him directly.. same goes for the interview that *his* camp set up for Ippei to do with ESPN.. no one even mentioned it to Shohei until a day after the interview?? That’s super dangerous, if true..
To me, it’s unrealistic to be handcuffed to one person to handle EVERYTHING.. I understand that Ippei was more than an interpreter and I get it.. but without credentials or being a fiduciary, you can’t be my assistant, accountant, attorney, PR person, my personal shopper, personal banker, my tax guy, etc. etc…. That’s negligence on Shohei’s part.. he’s essentially the CEO of a billion dollar corporation.. no one else running a billion dollar corporation is entrusting the whole thing to one other person and then not checking in on any of it.. those other jobs exist for a reason.. part of hiring them individually is for protection of your assets and image.. everyone he’s involved with dropped the ball.. or, there’s more to the story..
Nothing they can say that will make me believe that Shohei had no idea that money was being transferred out of his bank account!
I don’t believe MLB, Ohtani, or anybody financially tied to him in this massive cover up and scandal.
He's already trying to clean it up . Baseball must of got to him. They are already starting to defend him.
If what he says is true why hasn’t he filed a criminal complaint and why hasn’t he sued the bank for not protecting his banked assets. The only reason is that by taking either action the police have a reason to investigate and the bank is entitled to defend themselves.
Jeff out here Towing the line... 😂
man...must be nice to be able to ignore you're missing 4.5m in your bank account like it's nothing
He knew as Ippei had lied to OOTANI and without his authority ippei had accessed Ohtani’s bank account
and wire some dollars ..ended up with draining all of Ohtani’s money ..that was all Ohtani’s Shohei has been worked very hard and earned honestly
it wasn't no one told Shohei. It's because "Ippei IS Shohei Ohtani." Ippei was the speaker of Shohei. Remember, Shohei isn't good at English. (At least not good enough dealing with complicate situations. ) Anything he communicated with other team members was prob thru Ippei. You want to tell Shohei something, you told Ippei and ask him to translate or to talk to Shohei.
1:28 It's actually not that hard. Banks like Charles Schwabe has a 100K wire transfer daily limit and can be increased for high net worth individuals. Ippei just needs access to Ohtani's online banking account, he doesn't need POA.
“Ohtani didn’t explain how Ippei accessed his account“
Ask Ippei, not Ohtani.😂
Can you explain how the criminal stole money when it disappeared from your account?
I don't take a side and I don't know to what extent Ohtani was involved but for sure MLB has to get to the bottom of this. To find out if A. There was betting on baseball and B. The possibility of throwing games. This was an extraordinary amount of money not chump change. The angels organization are probably wondering too hey this guy played for us for years how deep does this thing go?
Something stinks in Dodgertown
I don't think Ippei was given access to Shohei's accounts. But since they spent so much time together, Ippei was probably able to somehow get Shohei's banking information without Shohei knowing. Maybe his bank account password etc. He had so much trust in him, that he probably didn't feel the need to lock away things that he should have.
WRT to what Shannon said about the bank calling him. They probably did call Shohei about the transfers, but it probably was Ippei who answered the phone and approved them. The Bank wouldn't know it wasn't Shohei on the phone. Shohei couldn't speak much English, so he probably had Ippei answering the phone for him.
i remember being billed for 2 netflix accounts only to notice it after a year. does that make me stupid as well. I'm saying this this can happen to anyone
Yea that makes you stupid, why would you not be checking your account you don’t have an interpreter lol
The guy on the left is so emotional about the person who is the victim of the crime saying he should know how the criminal stole his money, lacking the ability to empathise and guess how it was like to experience such a huge pain, just keep repeating why why why… he should should and should etc.it’s police’s job to find out and better not to be reviled.
What do you want to do with it anyway..?
I don't know why people are saying what Ippei did is so complicated. I made alot of bank wire tranfers, you will need to provide the recipient’s name, address, bank account number, and ABA number (routing number). I can change my name to Shohei and send the money, in fact the recievers name if different would be more difficult (have to fill out a self service form) And in terms of Ippei taking out money from Shohei's account, he gave access to Ippei alot of his finacial information of the bank.
I want to believe EVERYTHING that Sho is saying, but Shannon does bring up a very good point
Exactly you see how they cut him off when he was talking
Three possibilities here
1. Shohei was the one betting and ippei is the fall guy.
2. Ippei was the one betting and went to shohei for help, shohei helped with the debt no knowing that that made him legally liable.
3. Shohei knew nothing until the first statement released and thats when he found out he was stolen from.
Personally i lean more towards 2. I believe ippei racked up the debt and got shohei to help. Shohei helped without knowing gambling is illegal in CA and helping with gambling debt is also illegal.
I dont believe shohei was the one betting at all, i think he was either manipulated into helping without know the consequences of said help or he knew nothing at all and was stolen from.
Dang this show is still around?
This dude on the right has been trying to sweep this story under the rug from the get go.
lets heard that 90 minute interview with Ippei.
I really hope Ohtani sue ESPN for damaging the image of Ohtani by releasing the interview with Mizuhara about Ohtani's money without any consent from Ohtani. Ohtani can get insane amount of money from each of these people related to this ESPN network.
Shannon Sharpe must have learned the word “ Power of Attorney “ right before this show. He kept repeating on it throughout his talk. He makes sense, though, if Ohtani was an athlete from USA. With a little of insight of how Ohtani came and lived in this country while focusing on playing baseball and what kind of roles Ippei Mizihara played in this dynamic relationship, Jeff makes a whole lot of sense.