"I Wish I Would Have Had An Interpreter"

[Softball Bat]

- Pete Rose



The Ohtani scandal is the greatest gambling scandal in
baseball since Pete Rose, says Keith O'Brien

[HighPlainsGrifter]

MLB will tie themselves into knots to make sure Ohtani gets out of this scandal.

[smackaholic]

That’s for sure.

Whole lotta dollars/yen to be made on him.

Regarding Pete, has anyone ever even alleged that he EVER bet against a team he played/managed for?

The whole black Sox scandal wasn’t about the act of gambling. It was about throwing a game that was gambled on.

Pete should be in the HOF.

MLB needs to get off their high horse.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sudden Sam]

Rose has admitted he bet on teams he played for and/or managed.

The key being he claims he only bet on them, not against them.

[Diego in Seattle]

Rose has admitted he bet on teams he played for and/or managed.

The key being he claims he only bet on them, not against them.

That ain't no fucking key. He bet on baseball games that he games he participated in. He knew what he was doing was a mortal sin, yet did it anyway. Let the suspension last until life gets that 3rd out.

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Pete Rose knowingly broke the rules and lied when he got caught. He is a sad pathetic douche that only Bill Clinton can empathize with.

[Softball Bat]

I watched this one hour "round table" discussion on Pete Rose a couple of weeks ago.
Really good.





The world was different back when Pete Rose was playing ('60s, 70's, early '80s).
It is clear that back then, a lot of people knew that Pete was involved in a lot of things, and with a lot of people, that were not good.
But they just turned a blind eye to it. It was sort of the culture of the era.
"Local hero. Boys will be boys. Pete's got a lot of energy to burn. pfft... no big deal. We all have our vices."

Rose got away with gambling for the bulk of his career, and he most likely never thought his gambling habit would ever turn out to be such a major issue for him.
Times changed, the culture started changing some later in his career, people thought about things a bit differently, and things just caught up with him.

[smackaholic]

It still goes back to whether or not he ever did anything that even hinted at throwing a game.

All this holier than thou bullshit about gambling being wrong is a joke.

There was the wink and a nod bullshit that went on for decades, then for whatever reason, they decided to throw Pete up on the crucifix and make an example out of him.

Now they will bend over backwards to avoid doing this to their new golden boy.

[Sudden Sam]

Rose has admitted he bet on teams he played for and/or managed.

The key being he claims he only bet on them, not against them.

That ain't no fucking key. He bet on baseball games that he games he participated in. He knew what he was doing was a mortal sin, yet did it anyway. Let the suspension last until life gets that 3rd out.

I wasn’t defending him. I was reiterating Rose’s argument.

[Softball Bat]

There was the wink and a nod bullshit that went on for decades

As Keith O'Brien (author of Charlie Hustle) said, Pete was the local media's best friend.
They loved him, because they could always count on him to provide them with great access, quotes, and/or sound bites.
They knew he was involved in things he shouldn't be involved in, and probably knew he was betting on baseball, but they were very much inclined not to care about it.

Pete Rose knowingly broke the rules and lied when he got caught.

That's right.
Everyone knows that a player simply CAN'T bet on baseball, but Pete thumbed his nose at that.

Now they will bend over backwards to avoid doing this to their new golden boy.

We'll see.

[Screw_Michigan]

Pete Rose knowingly broke the rules and lied when he got caught. He is a sad pathetic douche

Hey, something we agree on

[Screw_Michigan]

Now they will bend over backwards to avoid doing this to their new golden boy.

That's because Bart Giamatti wasn't a public equity douchebag like Rob Manfred. He actually gave a shit about the integrity of the game and prioritized ethics over money. Unlike Manfred who clearly will prioritize the billions upon billions of Japanese US dollars flowing into MLB coffers for Ohtani. You can certainly take that to the bank.

[Mikey]

Over $4 million wired, from his personal account, in nine transactions to a known bookmaker. And we are now supposed to believe he never knew about it?

Give me a fucking break. First he says he was just helping out his friend. Then he changes his story to say he knew nothing about it until the team found out. Give me a fucking break. Whether he ever did any gambling, or committed any crimes, or not something is very fishy. He should at least be suspended until MLB completes a legitimate investigation, but that will never happen. There is no credibility left. Baseball and the Dodgers have too much at stake here. And I’m sure that the FBI and the IRS (and maybe the yakuza?) will eventually have something to say.

This is a complete clusterfuck and is going to end badly. And I’ll probably enjoy every minute of it. As will all Padres and the Giants fans for sure.

[Screw_Michigan]

Over $4 million wired, from his personal account, in nine transactions to a known bookmaker. And we are now supposed to believe he never knew about it?

Give me a fucking break. First he says he was just helping out his friend. Then he changes his story to say he knew nothing about it until the team found out. Give me a fucking break. Whether he ever did any gambling, or committed any crimes, or not something is very fishy. He should at least be suspended until MLB completes a legitimate investigation, but that will never happen. There is no credibility left. Baseball and the Dodgers have too much at stake here. And I’m sure that the FBI and the IRS (and maybe the yakuza?) will eventually have something to say.

This is a complete clusterfuck and is going to end badly. And I’ll probably enjoy every minute of it. As will all Padres and the Giants fans for sure.

If Ohtani was playing for the Royals or even still for the Angels, he'd have been suspended immediately. But because he's playing for the Dodgers, he'll be protected until the momentum for his suspension is so overwhelming MLB can't ignore it.

And sorry, the whole excuse of "he had access to my bank account and wired himself millions of dollars" was so ridiculously preposterous. Only someone's wife or power of atty can or should have access to someone else's bank account. Not your fucking interpreter.

Fuck Ohtani and fuck his PR handlers.

[Softball Bat]

And sorry, the whole excuse of "he had access to my bank account and wired himself millions of dollars" was so ridiculously preposterous. Only someone's wife or power of atty can or should have access to someone else's bank account. Not your fucking interpreter.

It is very hard to imagine that Ohtani was not, at the very least, aware that his buddy was sending large amounts of Shohei's cash.

[Softball Bat]

A Youtuber posted this comment in comments section for the video I posted below.



Ippei Mizuhara had Power of Attorney over an account with 10 million dollars in it -- a charity account which Ohtani hardly ever paid attention to.

The Japanese media has been reporting this FOR FOUR SOLID DAYS!

The Japanese media actually took the time to contact the (Japanese) banks and confirmed that Shohei had signed over Power of Attorney to Ippei. This is OLD NEWS and yet a lot of people apparently want to continue pretending not to believe it. I say "PRETENDING" on purpose. If the Japanese press can confirm the banking information (and who contrlled the account) by contacting the bank, then there are only a limited number of reasons why US sources are not reporting the same information. NONE of those reasons are particularly flattering to the US media (Im looking at YOU ESPN)

This is CLICKBAIT, folks. NOTHING ELSE! Anyone casting doubt on Shohei's explanation is playing the same BS game that BSPN was playing when they broke the story -- reporting half-truths that they KNEW to be half-true, just because a scandal about Shohei is better clickbait than a scandal about a crooked personal assistant.

Either that ... or theyre just plain-old-incompetent as journalists, and need to be fired, pronto.

[Mikey]

I haven’t watched the video but either this guy is lying or Japan has much different privacy laws than the US. A US bank would NEVER be able to give out that kind of information to the press. And, just surmising here, but if it was a Japanese bank, wouldn’t it have been yen and not $$?

[Screw_Michigan]

I haven’t watched the video but either this guy is lying or Japan has much different privacy laws than the US. A US bank would NEVER be able to give out that kind of information to the press. And, just surmising here, but if it was a Japanese bank, wouldn’t it have been yen and not $$?

Well, to your point, I doubt a Japanese bank would be legally able to, but that doesn't stop employees from actually doing it.

[Softball Bat]

And sorry, the whole excuse of "he had access to my bank account and wired himself millions of dollars" was so ridiculously preposterous. Only someone's wife or power of atty can or should have access to someone else's bank account. Not your fucking interpreter.

It is very hard to imagine that Ohtani was not, at the very least, aware that his buddy was sending large amounts of Shohei's cash.

This is a pretty informative interview.
T. Thompson did an early interview with Mizuhara about the situation.
He told her that Ohtani logged into his computer and made the payments.
Thompson says Mizuhara told her that Ohtani was not happy about the situation, but was willing to help his friend out.

Of course, the story has since changed, but this initial confession by Mizuhara seems most likely, imo.
Then again, it is possible that it was Ohtani himself who had been suffering the gambling losses, but I tend to imagine not.

[Mikey]

This column is remarkably balanced, considering the author.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/ ... -hernandez

Ohtani has kept a distance not only from the journalists who chronicle him, but also the players with whom he’s shared the field. Almost nothing is known about his private life, which is why when he was asked about his marriage during the Dodgers’ recent visit to South Korea, Freddie Freeman perked up and joked, “I gotta hear this one.”

Ohtani has the right to make this choice. He isn’t under any obligation to share more than he wants.

There’s a downside to this approach, however. Outside of fanatics who have abandoned any sense of reason, how can anyone believe what Ohtani says with any level of certainty when they have absolutely no idea who he is?

Believing Ohtani’s story about Mizuhara requires one to believe that Ohtani is who he portrays himself to be, an overgrown yakyu shonen — a boy who lives, eats and breathes baseball — with almost no other interests. His rumored apathy for money could explain how he failed to notice that Mizuhara had stolen millions of dollars from him.

He's always been very private about his life off of the baseball diamond, so nobody really knows.

[Diego in Seattle]

This column is remarkably balanced, considering the author.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/ ... -hernandez

Ohtani has kept a distance not only from the journalists who chronicle him, but also the players with whom he’s shared the field. Almost nothing is known about his private life, which is why when he was asked about his marriage during the Dodgers’ recent visit to South Korea, Freddie Freeman perked up and joked, “I gotta hear this one.”

Ohtani has the right to make this choice. He isn’t under any obligation to share more than he wants.

There’s a downside to this approach, however. Outside of fanatics who have abandoned any sense of reason, how can anyone believe what Ohtani says with any level of certainty when they have absolutely no idea who he is?

Believing Ohtani’s story about Mizuhara requires one to believe that Ohtani is who he portrays himself to be, an overgrown yakyu shonen — a boy who lives, eats and breathes baseball — with almost no other interests. His rumored apathy for money could explain how he failed to notice that Mizuhara had stolen millions of dollars from him.

He's always been very private about his life off of the baseball diamond, so nobody really knows.

Ichiro was that way as well (at least while he was with the Mariners). Might be a cultural thing.

[Mikey]

Racist.

[Diego in Seattle]

Racist.

I realize you're joking, but I made my prior statement as one who appreciates not seeing every bit of minutia about celebrity/superjock that comes along.

[Mikey]

Racist.

I realize you're joking, but I made my prior statement as one who appreciates not seeing every bit of minutia about celebrity/superjock that comes along.

I'll rack that.

[Softball Bat]

The feds have determined that Ohtani was not involved in the scheme.
He is a victim of fraud.

[Mikey]

Did that cost him another $4.5 million?

[Softball Bat]

Now the story has turned completely insane!
The scope of the gambling was far, far, FAR greater than what had previously been reported.







I am sorry, there is no way Ohtani was not, at the very least, aware that his "buddy" was using his bank account to make bets.

[Screw_Michigan]

He's the fall guy. It's completely obvious.

[Left Seater]

He's the fall guy. It's completely obvious.

While I have zero knowledge outside of what has been reported, this is my gut feeling as well.

[Screw_Michigan]

While I have zero knowledge outside of what has been reported, this is my gut feeling as well.

This is from the US Atty's press release of the compliant. Just doesn't strike me as realistic. What bank would allow a caller to say he's a member and change critical information? Zero.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/ja ... 16-million

In 2018, Mizuhara accompanied Ohtani, who didn’t speak English, to a bank branch in Arizona to assist Ohtani in opening the account and translated for Ohtani when setting up the account details. Ohtani’s salary from playing professional baseball was deposited into this account and he never gave Mizuhara control of this or any of his other financial accounts, according to the affidavit. Mizuhara allegedly told Ohtani’s U.S.-based financial professionals, none of whom spoke Japanese, that Ohtani denied them access to the account.

In September 2021, Mizuhara began gambling with an illegal sports book and, several months later, started losing substantial sums of money, the affidavit states. During this time, the contact information on Ohtani’s bank account allegedly was changed to link the account to Mizuhara’s phone number and to an anonymous email address connected to Mizuhara.

Mizuhara allegedly also telephoned the bank and falsely identified himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account to associates of the illegal gambling operation.

[Softball Bat]

While I have zero knowledge outside of what has been reported, this is my gut feeling as well.

This is from the US Atty's press release of the compliant. Just doesn't strike me as realistic. What bank would allow a caller to say he's a member and change critical information? Zero.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/ja ... 16-million

In 2018, Mizuhara accompanied Ohtani, who didn’t speak English, to a bank branch in Arizona to assist Ohtani in opening the account and translated for Ohtani when setting up the account details. Ohtani’s salary from playing professional baseball was deposited into this account and he never gave Mizuhara control of this or any of his other financial accounts, according to the affidavit. Mizuhara allegedly told Ohtani’s U.S.-based financial professionals, none of whom spoke Japanese, that Ohtani denied them access to the account.

In September 2021, Mizuhara began gambling with an illegal sports book and, several months later, started losing substantial sums of money, the affidavit states. During this time, the contact information on Ohtani’s bank account allegedly was changed to link the account to Mizuhara’s phone number and to an anonymous email address connected to Mizuhara.

Mizuhara allegedly also telephoned the bank and falsely identified himself as Ohtani to trick bank employees into authorizing wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account to associates of the illegal gambling operation.

When it became known that something was going on with Ohtani's bank account, Mizuhara initially said that Ohtani was okay with covering the bets.
Most likely, imo, that is the truth.

At the very least, Ohtani knew that large sums of money were going out of his account, and possibly, Ohtani was actually placing wagers.

[Softball Bat]

Alden Gonzalez' remaining questions.
5:00 to 7:48







How does an account with 10s of millions of dollars in it get in the hands of Mizuhara, solely, who is not the owner of the account?

There are a lot of steps required in wiring the amount of money Mizuhara was wiring from the account.
How does that continue to happen?

Over a six year period, there was not a single instance where Ohtani was asked, "Hey, are you sure you are okay with this?"

[Diego in Seattle]

Going only by what I've seen written here....

First question is who handled Ohtani's money? Did they have interpreter services outside of Mizuhara? Did they provide financial docs to Ohtani in Japanese?

And does Mizuhara have any docs that confirm that Ohtani had knowledge & consented to Mizuhara's access to Ohtani's account for excessive gambling wagers?

[Mikey]

For Ohtani to have been completely unaware of this you have to assume that he’s about the dumbest motherfucker on the planet.

[Softball Bat]

Going only by what I've seen written here....

First question is who handled Ohtani's money? Did they have interpreter services outside of Mizuhara? Did they provide financial docs to Ohtani in Japanese?

And does Mizuhara have any docs that confirm that Ohtani had knowledge & consented to Mizuhara's access to Ohtani's account for excessive gambling wagers?

I have not heard anything about financial docs in Japanese being given to Ohtani.
Seems Ohtani fully trusted Mizuhara and basically gave him power of attorney, even though no official power of attorney document was ever signed.

I don't know that any other interpreting services were given to Ohtani other than Mizuhara, although I would think it is possible that someone(s) else might have filled in at various times through the past number of years. But that is just my speculation.

Mizuhara will be arraigned on May 9th.
Maybe we will learn more then.

If not, we'll have to wait for Mizuhara's trial.

[Softball Bat]

For Ohtani to have been completely unaware of this you have to assume that he’s about the dumbest motherfucker on the planet.

Yes.
Dumb, or just completely oblivious, or something...

But even more than that, is it even possible for 19,000 betting transactions, some very large movements of money, to take place with the actual account holder never being aware that anything is going on?

lol


Mizuhara originally told ESPN that Ohtani knew about the gambling losses, and that Ohtani agreed to help his friend out.
The next day Mizuhara changed the story.