TRASCRIZIONE 🔗
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,880
Music.
2
00:00:13,326 --> 00:00:17,726
What's up everybody welcome back to baseball connection so hot off the press
3
00:00:17,726 --> 00:00:22,746
there's a big story right now surrounding shohei otani the face of baseball
4
00:00:22,746 --> 00:00:24,766
the international superstar,
5
00:00:25,666 --> 00:00:28,726
shohei otani so he is
6
00:00:28,726 --> 00:00:32,246
in the news right now because the dodgers
7
00:00:32,246 --> 00:00:37,706
have fired his interpreter well what why why why is this happening why did the
8
00:00:37,706 --> 00:00:43,046
dodgers fire his interpreter well because Because Ohtani's attorneys are accusing
9
00:00:43,046 --> 00:00:50,026
this interpreter of massive theft tied to alleged gambling. Let's rewind.
10
00:00:50,606 --> 00:00:52,446
Okay. What exactly happened?
11
00:00:53,446 --> 00:01:03,806
So Ohtani's name has surfaced in a federal investigation of a guy named Matthew Boyer.
12
00:01:03,846 --> 00:01:09,106
He's an Orange County resident. And he's, he is a bookmaker and they're,
13
00:01:09,106 --> 00:01:13,266
they're, the feds are investigating this guy because he allegedly running an
14
00:01:13,266 --> 00:01:14,966
illegal bookmaking operation.
15
00:01:15,026 --> 00:01:18,966
Bookmaking is, is, you know, facilitating sports or no, sorry,
16
00:01:19,046 --> 00:01:20,086
facilitating gambling.
17
00:01:20,766 --> 00:01:26,526
Okay. And that is, that's what's going on. So federal agents raided this guy's
18
00:01:26,526 --> 00:01:28,166
house last year as part of this investigation.
19
00:01:28,566 --> 00:01:32,266
They're trying to, you know, they're trying to see if he's, if he's an illegal
20
00:01:32,266 --> 00:01:36,266
bookmaker. Well, that's what is going on right now.
21
00:01:36,346 --> 00:01:42,026
But where it gets interesting is that there's a record,
22
00:01:42,166 --> 00:01:47,446
federal investigators were able to find evidence that there are wire transfers
23
00:01:47,446 --> 00:01:53,286
from Shohei Ohtani's personal bank account to this illegal bookie.
24
00:01:53,286 --> 00:01:56,666
Okay so of large
25
00:01:56,666 --> 00:02:01,406
amounts large sums of money we're talking to a total of four and a half million
26
00:02:01,406 --> 00:02:06,106
dollars from shohei otani over the course of time you know multiple transactions
27
00:02:06,106 --> 00:02:13,226
of 500 000 or you know just spread out and for a total of four and a half million
28
00:02:13,226 --> 00:02:15,626
dollars to this illegal bookmaker.
29
00:02:16,594 --> 00:02:23,434
So that set off a series of events. And initially what happened was Otani's
30
00:02:23,434 --> 00:02:27,554
camp, just before the season started, because technically right now, as I speak,
31
00:02:28,434 --> 00:02:32,994
game two of the Seoul series is occurring between the Padres and the Dodgers.
32
00:02:34,114 --> 00:02:38,674
That's on Thursday, United States time, in the morning in the United States.
33
00:02:38,734 --> 00:02:41,534
On Wednesday morning, United States had game one, Dodgers won that.
34
00:02:41,634 --> 00:02:47,374
But on Tuesday, just before that, that Otani's camp, they had a spokesman who
35
00:02:47,374 --> 00:02:52,874
told ESPN that Otani had transferred the funds over to this bookie because he
36
00:02:52,874 --> 00:02:56,434
was covering his interpreter's gambling debt.
37
00:02:56,514 --> 00:02:58,834
His interpreter's name is Ipe Mizuhara.
38
00:02:59,254 --> 00:03:03,734
So they said that, Otani's camp said that, and then they presented Mizuhara
39
00:03:03,734 --> 00:03:08,394
himself to ESPN for a 90-minute interview on Tuesday night.
40
00:03:08,894 --> 00:03:13,474
And then during that 90-minute interview, Mizuhara laid out his account in great detail.
41
00:03:13,814 --> 00:03:19,194
And the following day, just as ESPN prepared to publish the story,
42
00:03:19,434 --> 00:03:25,394
that same spokesman who told ESPN that Otani had wired the money to the bookie
43
00:03:25,394 --> 00:03:28,274
to cover the interpreter's gambling debt,
44
00:03:28,334 --> 00:03:34,694
that same spokesman disavowed Mizuhara's 90-minute interview and said Otani's
45
00:03:34,694 --> 00:03:35,914
lawyers would issue a statement.
46
00:03:36,154 --> 00:03:40,014
So then Otani's lawyers and came out with a statement and say,
47
00:03:40,094 --> 00:03:45,014
and they said that Otani had been the victim of massive theft and they're turning
48
00:03:45,014 --> 00:03:46,374
the matter over to the authorities.
49
00:03:46,874 --> 00:03:51,014
The statement didn't specify who they believed perpetrated the theft,
50
00:03:51,094 --> 00:03:57,474
but then later the Dodgers come out and say they're firing the interpreter.
51
00:03:57,814 --> 00:04:01,434
So, I mean, if we connect the dots, what does that mean?
52
00:04:02,362 --> 00:04:06,322
What does that mean? If you're firing the interpreter, you know,
53
00:04:06,322 --> 00:04:09,682
because for whatever reason, I mean, if you connect the dots,
54
00:04:09,782 --> 00:04:13,722
it means the Dodgers believe that the interpreter did something wrong.
55
00:04:13,842 --> 00:04:20,102
And if Otani's legal team says that Otani was just a victim of a massive theft,
56
00:04:20,182 --> 00:04:22,582
well, yeah, they're connecting the dots.
57
00:04:22,582 --> 00:04:26,842
It means the Dodgers fired this guy because they're saying that this dude stole
58
00:04:26,842 --> 00:04:32,782
money from Otani. So ESPN did review bank information, which showed Otani's
59
00:04:32,782 --> 00:04:37,102
name on two $500,000 payments in September and October.
60
00:04:37,262 --> 00:04:41,062
That's the evidence that they got a hold of.
61
00:04:41,202 --> 00:04:46,102
But at the top of their article, they're saying that at least $4.5 million in
62
00:04:46,102 --> 00:04:49,802
wire transfers were sent from Otani's bank account to this bookie.
63
00:04:50,262 --> 00:04:53,922
So that's from the federal investigation.
Load full transcript
investigation so
64
00:04:53,922 --> 00:04:57,542
what do we have here we have a situation where the
65
00:04:57,542 --> 00:05:00,482
only hard evidence we know is that money was transferred from
66
00:05:00,482 --> 00:05:03,642
otani's account to this bookie and before i
67
00:05:03,642 --> 00:05:07,222
even go on the juicy part about this is that during that 90 minute interview
68
00:05:07,222 --> 00:05:15,662
between mizuhara and espn he told espn that otani himself logged onto otani's
69
00:05:15,662 --> 00:05:20,802
laptop and with mizuhara watching over his shoulder her and then wire the money over.
70
00:05:21,042 --> 00:05:25,162
And then ESPN asked him, well, why didn't Otani just send the money to Mizuhara
71
00:05:25,162 --> 00:05:26,762
and have Mizuhara take care of the debt?
72
00:05:26,902 --> 00:05:31,142
Mizuhara said it's because Otani didn't trust him to not gamble it away again.
73
00:05:31,542 --> 00:05:36,702
So Otani, he said that Otani himself did the transaction because he didn't trust
74
00:05:36,702 --> 00:05:40,402
the interpreter not to gamble the money away.
75
00:05:41,202 --> 00:05:50,602
So yeah, that's such a red red flag it is such a red flag and when espn reviewed
76
00:05:50,602 --> 00:05:54,122
the wire transfer data for two of the transactions each of them totaling 500
77
00:05:54,122 --> 00:05:56,122
000 a million dollars worth of transactions right there,
78
00:05:56,662 --> 00:05:59,542
you see shohayotani's name on the
79
00:05:59,542 --> 00:06:02,422
bank on the bank account information on the wire transfer
80
00:06:02,422 --> 00:06:05,742
information and the word loan next to it that's
81
00:06:05,742 --> 00:06:09,262
that's that's what is on the data and
82
00:06:09,262 --> 00:06:12,922
that's what what you see there according
83
00:06:12,922 --> 00:06:15,762
to mizuhara on tuesday he said
84
00:06:15,762 --> 00:06:19,422
that they added the word loan to the description field because
85
00:06:19,422 --> 00:06:23,142
they had to put a description in there and they
86
00:06:23,142 --> 00:06:26,502
had to put something so they put just put the word loan in there okay so let's
87
00:06:26,502 --> 00:06:31,302
break it down first of all how does a guy and yes mizuhara actually makes a
88
00:06:31,302 --> 00:06:35,922
lot of money he told espn that he had been paid between 300 to 500 thousand
89
00:06:35,922 --> 00:06:40,802
dollars per year okay so let's even just take the upper end let's say It's a lot of money.
90
00:06:41,142 --> 00:06:43,582
Let's say this guy makes half a million dollars a year. Even at that,
91
00:06:44,162 --> 00:06:50,622
what kind of bookie is extending a credit line of up to $4.5 million for a guy
92
00:06:50,622 --> 00:06:53,782
who makes $500,000 a year? That makes no sense.
93
00:06:54,402 --> 00:06:59,802
How is he going to pay that back? I mean, first of all, he's $500,000 a year
94
00:06:59,802 --> 00:07:01,302
and he lives in California. So.
95
00:07:02,245 --> 00:07:06,345
With taxes taking more than half of that, like half of that goes to taxes,
96
00:07:06,365 --> 00:07:09,405
probably even slightly more, and then living expenses, et cetera, et cetera.
97
00:07:09,545 --> 00:07:16,545
So how is somebody on a $500,000 income able to support a debt of $4.5 million
98
00:07:16,545 --> 00:07:19,285
and the bookie is willingly extending him that credit line?
99
00:07:19,505 --> 00:07:23,265
Because they're saying that he met the bookie in, Mizuhara met the bookie in 2021.
100
00:07:24,005 --> 00:07:31,125
And by the end of 2022, Mizuhara's gambling debt had increased to $1 million.
101
00:07:31,125 --> 00:07:34,545
Dollars so we're seeing that the
102
00:07:34,545 --> 00:07:37,565
transactions totaled 4.5 million dollars so from
103
00:07:37,565 --> 00:07:40,565
the end of 2022 to the end of 2023 basically a
104
00:07:40,565 --> 00:07:45,565
year a further three and a half million dollars of debt was was extended to
105
00:07:45,565 --> 00:07:49,225
this guy on credit how how for a guy so three and a half million dollars for
106
00:07:49,225 --> 00:07:56,105
a guy who makes a salary of at most 500k and potentially even less than that
107
00:07:56,105 --> 00:07:58,545
how that that's where this this whole thing falls apart to me.
108
00:07:58,845 --> 00:08:02,465
And what makes it even more fishy is that Ohtani's camp contradicted themselves.
109
00:08:02,905 --> 00:08:06,365
But before this whole thing even gets started, they contradict themselves.
110
00:08:06,445 --> 00:08:09,965
They come out and fervently say, in the beginning, the story they go with is
111
00:08:09,965 --> 00:08:12,905
Ohtani is sending the money to the bookie. They say it themselves.
112
00:08:13,385 --> 00:08:16,385
The spokesman said it, and then Mizuhara said it.
113
00:08:16,445 --> 00:08:22,165
They say it twice, that Ohtani sent this money to the bookie to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt.
114
00:08:22,285 --> 00:08:24,165
That's the story they went with. And then the very next day,
115
00:08:24,245 --> 00:08:27,765
they change it completely. completely and they say, no, Otani wasn't involved
116
00:08:27,765 --> 00:08:29,845
in facilitating these transactions at all.
117
00:08:30,385 --> 00:08:34,885
The money was stolen from him. Okay. So let's, let's, let's go down that path.
118
00:08:35,045 --> 00:08:39,705
Let's say the money was stolen from Otani. Okay. How, how do you explain the
119
00:08:39,705 --> 00:08:43,165
wire transfers from Otani's personal bank account to the bookie?
120
00:08:43,225 --> 00:08:48,065
That means somebody else who wasn't Otani, who had access to Otani's bank account,
121
00:08:48,145 --> 00:08:51,505
made those transactions under Otani's name. How is that possible?
122
00:08:51,985 --> 00:08:58,005
How do you Why are $500,000 without any kind of identity verification?
123
00:08:58,285 --> 00:09:02,245
I mean, that amount of money, and this is not just a one-time thing.
124
00:09:02,285 -->
00:09:04,825
This is multiple times, a total of four and a half million dollars.
125
00:09:05,045 --> 00:09:11,225
How do you make all these wire transfers for millions of dollars under someone else's name?
126
00:09:12,328 --> 00:09:15,828
How do you do that under someone else's name? Do that other person's account.
127
00:09:17,208 --> 00:09:23,108
Without the bank running any kind of verification, identity verification when
128
00:09:23,108 --> 00:09:24,788
you're conducting the transaction?
129
00:09:25,208 --> 00:09:30,108
That's a question. So that's a red flag. So that's something that Otani's legal
130
00:09:30,108 --> 00:09:32,328
team is going to have to answer for.
131
00:09:33,468 --> 00:09:37,568
So, I mean, this guy Mizuhara, he's in Korea.
132
00:09:37,788 --> 00:09:40,668
I mean, the Dodgers are in Korea for the season opening series. series
133
00:09:40,668 --> 00:09:43,608
i mean he was in the dugout during game
134
00:09:43,608 --> 00:09:46,588
one and he was he was there on wednesday
135
00:09:46,588 --> 00:09:49,828
and then all of a sudden you know when the story comes out they say they fire him so so so
136
00:09:49,828 --> 00:09:52,848
so i mean oh man this this whole
137
00:09:52,848 --> 00:09:55,668
this whole story i mean
138
00:09:55,668 --> 00:09:58,928
okay i'll give my take on it i mean super super
139
00:09:58,928 --> 00:10:01,728
fishy when they smoke this fire i mean i'm just
140
00:10:01,728 --> 00:10:05,548
gonna give my opinion it sounds to me like otani was
141
00:10:05,548 --> 00:10:08,508
involved involved in gambling and they're
142
00:10:08,508 --> 00:10:11,408
using mizuhara as the fall guy because of
143
00:10:11,408 --> 00:10:14,568
course they have to protect that they can't you know let it be known or you
144
00:10:14,568 --> 00:10:17,408
know yeah they can't let me know that otani was involved it looks to
145
00:10:17,408 --> 00:10:20,268
me like you know they're using mizuhara as hey you
146
00:10:20,268 --> 00:10:23,388
know you're gonna you're gonna take the blame for this and of course you
147
00:10:23,388 --> 00:10:26,708
know they could they could compensate mizuhara for you know
148
00:10:26,708 --> 00:10:29,788
for this later down the line or whatever because at
149
00:10:29,788 --> 00:10:32,728
the end of the day it's it's not really going to do anything for his image
150
00:10:32,728 --> 00:10:36,108
because he's yeah he's not the face of major
151
00:10:36,108 --> 00:10:38,908
league baseball so yeah i
152
00:10:38,908 --> 00:10:44,228
mean this is this is where we stand with things right now so what does this
153
00:10:44,228 --> 00:10:48,008
mean as far as like you know potential you know punishments or like what does
154
00:10:48,008 --> 00:10:53,048
this mean so the rules let's let's look at the rules right so major league baseball
155
00:10:53,048 --> 00:10:57,568
does have a rule about making payments to illegal bookies.
156
00:10:57,888 --> 00:11:02,268
Rule 21d3 states that any player, umpire, or club,
157
00:11:02,388 --> 00:11:07,028
or league official, or employee who places bets with illegal bookmakers shall
158
00:11:07,028 --> 00:11:11,408
be subject to such penalty as the commissioner deems appropriate in light of
159
00:11:11,408 --> 00:11:13,168
the facts and circumstances of the conduct.
160
00:11:13,248 --> 00:11:17,668
So they don't specify what the penalty is. They say it's within the commissioner's discretion.
161
00:11:18,108 --> 00:11:23,748
If you look at precedent, go back to 2015, someone has been penalized under
162
00:11:23,748 --> 00:11:25,868
this rule, Marlins pitcher Jarrett at COSART,
163
00:11:25,968 --> 00:11:31,028
he was fined and not suspended by Major League Baseball for violating this rule
164
00:11:31,028 --> 00:11:34,888
because it was determined by the league that he had not bet on baseball.
165
00:11:35,628 --> 00:11:39,888
So that's the only, I guess that's the recent precedent we have for this rule.
166
00:11:41,081 --> 00:11:47,341
But, I mean, it's going to be a tough decision for Rob Manfred because this
167
00:11:47,341 --> 00:11:50,681
is not Jarrett Cozart, who most people don't even know. This is Shohei Ohtani.
168
00:11:51,101 --> 00:11:58,861
If it is indeed, you know, if the facts do come out and determine that Ohtani
169
00:11:58,861 --> 00:12:03,801
himself made bets with illegal bookmakers, yeah, I mean, I guess that's the
170
00:12:03,801 --> 00:12:05,761
language you have to key in. Key on.
171
00:12:05,861 --> 00:12:11,161
A player who places bets with illegal bookmakers. is we know that there were
172
00:12:11,161 --> 00:12:12,981
transactions from Otani's name.
173
00:12:13,181 --> 00:12:16,881
I guess that's the angle that Otani lawyers are going to have to take and say
174
00:12:16,881 --> 00:12:21,241
that, hey, there are transactions from Otani's name, but Otani himself did not place bets.
175
00:12:21,381 --> 00:12:24,201
I mean, the first story was Otani did send the transactions,
176
00:12:24,301 --> 00:12:26,361
but he was doing it to cover debts.
177
00:12:27,161 --> 00:12:30,961
That's what they were saying. Now they're saying, no, Otani didn't place the
178
00:12:30,961 --> 00:12:33,941
transactions himself. The laptop story is not true. Oh, that's not true.
179
00:12:34,221 --> 00:12:38,221
He was the victim of a massive theft. Now they're going to have to explain how
180
00:12:38,221 --> 00:12:43,301
exactly that theft occurred, who conducted the theft, how he got away with it.
181
00:12:43,781 --> 00:12:50,781
And yeah, you know, it's hard to keep a lie afloat. Let me just say that.
182
00:12:50,821 --> 00:12:51,961
That's one thing I know about the universe.
183
00:12:52,241 --> 00:12:57,441
It is hard to keep a lie afloat. You have to spend more energy to keep a lie
184
00:12:57,441 --> 00:13:01,161
going because if it's not true, you know, you're going to have to just be,
185
00:13:01,241 --> 00:13:02,961
you have to remember everything you said.
186
00:13:03,141 --> 00:13:07,221
You have have to, I mean, they've already contradicted themselves and the whole thing's a mess.
187
00:13:07,981 --> 00:13:11,581
So that is, that's the story, ladies and gentlemen.
188
00:13:12,381 --> 00:13:16,261
The Seoul series is going as we speak right now. You know, Dodgers won the first game 5-2.
189
00:13:16,321 --> 00:13:20,541
In game two right now, it's top of the sixth and the Padres are winning 10-8, close game.
190
00:13:20,841 --> 00:13:25,581
We'll see how that goes. But Yoshinobu Yamamoto was chased after one inning
191
00:13:25,581 --> 00:13:28,661
in his Dodgers debut, greeted very harshly.
192
00:13:28,981 --> 00:13:33,881
I mean, one inning, five runs four hits one walk one hit by pitch i mean this
193
00:13:33,881 --> 00:13:37,481
dude needed 43 pitches to get through the frame welcome to the major leagues
194
00:13:37,481 --> 00:13:40,901
mr yamamoto you know he'll settle down but tough debut for him,
195
00:13:41,701 --> 00:13:44,401
so we're gonna stop it at that i mean we'll definitely have a lot more
196
00:13:44,401 --> 00:13:48,061
baseball to talk about it's season just starting but this just was a surprise
197
00:13:48,061 --> 00:13:51,361
that came out on wednesday so obviously i have to jump on here and discuss this
198
00:13:51,361 --> 00:13:56,461
at length this is the this is the biggest story in baseball right now so that's
199
00:13:56,461 --> 00:13:59,681
gonna do it for today folks if you enjoyed this please share Tarot Tone would
200
00:13:59,681 --> 00:14:02,541
be interested and we'll see you next time on Baseball Connection.
201
00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:11,141
Music.