The Ohtani Gambling Case Is Settled And The Theft Is Worse Than We Thought

Shohei Ohtani, the man with money, his sidekick Ippei who got his hands muddy, spent more time gambling than going in front of the media translating, finding himself in lots of debt, troubles that led to Ohtani being upset. And as the investigation began, off Ippei went back to Japan, and that, my friends, is when shit hit the fan. Accusations started erupting toward Ohtani, almost as disastrous as the aftermath of Nagasaki, but in time we found the truth. The man is innocent, the one we call Japanese Babe Ruth. As for Ippei, off to prison he probably lay. It looks like the Ohtani gambling situation is over with, and it's honestly worse than originally reported to be. Ohtani himself was never reported to have been doing any wrongdoing or anything illegal from the get-go, it was an Ippei situation, Ippei Mazahara, Ohtani's former translator, but rightfully so, there were a lot of questions to be asked regarding the situation, it didn't quite add up. The immediate story was that Ippei was being accused of stealing money from Ohtani, but this was also coming just hours after the Dodgers' first game of the season, a game that had Ippei in the dugout. Videos of Ohtani and Ippei happily together in that dugout made the rounds, it just seemed so bizarre, so crazy that it could happen that quick. That they were friends one minute, and the next Ohtani is accusing Ippei of something insanely serious, of stealing $4.5 million from his bank account to fund an illegal bookmaker for gambling. And then a story comes out that ESPN had a story ready to go earlier that day about Ippei telling them that Ohtani knew what was going on, and willingly helped him pay off the debts he was going through with the gambling with that illegal bookmaker. Telling ESPN in an interview over the phone, that Ohtani was literally with him when they made several transactions of $500,000 each over the course of several months. So that of course, does not add up to what was then being reported now publicly, as ESPN then reported that Ippei later told ESPN he lied to them. During that phone call interview just hours before the opening game in South Korea, and quote on quote admitted that he took the money from Ohtani to pay off his gambling debts without him knowing. So of course, one of the immediate conspiracy theories was that Ippei was telling the truth the first time. And either he and Ohtani didn't know that funding that illegal bookmaker was in fact just that, illegal, or whatever, and decided to change the story once they realized the serious implications that come with that. So in other words, according to this theory, Ohtani was guilty, and Ippei was playing as the fall guy. But then there was this report from people in the Dodgers clubhouse when this happened, that right after the game, the Dodgers for an office and ownership had Ippei speak to the team in the clubhouse and explain his gambling addiction and the negative story that was about to come out regarding him. But to add onto that apparently, Ohtani wasn't completely sure what Ippei was even talking about. He reportedly grew really frustrated or whatever, but the point is that this report tells us that Ohtani had no idea what was going on until soon before we as the public found out about it. So maybe it really was that quick, just like one moment you're watching this and happen to not be subscribed to this channel and the next you enjoy the video so you become subscribed. Ohtani really was cool with Ippei one moment as usual in the dugout, and the next he finds out Ippei was stealing money from him and has to file a lawsuit. The conspiracy theories of Ohtani being guilty in this continued as the investigation began into him, and of course really Ippei, but we finally know more about the situation, and nothing has changed regarding Ohtani. But as for Ippei, it's actually a lot worse than originally reported to be. It seems that the only thing Ippei wasn't lying to reporters was that he did not bet on baseball. Other than that, it seems pretty clear to me, and probably to most, that he did have a serious gambling addiction and of course went really far to try and get through it and fix the issues he got himself into because of this addiction, going as far as to go behind his supposed best friend's back and be untrustworthy to him. So the investigation has been looked into, and there is so much that has been found and now reported, as according to federal authorities, Ippei didn't steal $4.5 million from Shohei Ohtani to pay off gambling debts to an illegal sports book, and that's because he stole more than $16 million over 2 years from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts to an illegal sports book. Federal authorities also filed a complaint accusing Ippei of bank fraud, which can carry a maximum fine of up to $1 million and or up to 30 years in prison. With US Attorney Martin Estrada emphasizing Ohtani as a victim, saying that there was no evidence Ohtani had any knowledge of Ippei's gambling activities or use of his bank account to pay his debts, adding on that investigators went through years of text messages between the two and found no discussion of gambling. When Ohtani moved to the US in 2018 after signing with the Angels, Ippei helped him open up a bank account, an account that Ohtani himself said that he never gave Ippei control of. Ippei allegedly told Ohtani's financial advisors and accountants, none of whom spoke Japanese, that Ohtani had denied them access to the account, with investigators also going through recorded phone calls from the bank in which Ippei falsely identified himself as Ohtani to trick and deceive bank employees into authorizing the transfers. It just gets crazier, because then there's this. On March 20th, 2024, after the original news broke that at least $4.5 million had been transmitted from Ohtani's account to Matthew Boyer's operation, The Illegal Bookmaker, Ippei texted Boyer asking whether he had seen the media reports, with Boyer responding, Yes, but that's all bullshit, obviously you didn't steal money from him, I understand it's a cover job, I totally get it, with Ippei replying, Technically I did steal from him, it's all over for me. To go into even greater detail of the money, Ippei lost bets of nearly $183 million, won bets of more than $142 million, with $40.7 million in losses. And not long after all this went down, despite all the theories of people thinking that Ohtani was the one with a gambling addiction, who also went as far as to gamble on baseball, Ohtani deleted every Instagram post he had with Ippei, unfollowed him, with Ippei's own wife also unfollowing him on Instagram, stuff that I don't really think helps with the narrative that Ohtani was the one doing anything wrong, and neither does all the new stuff that's coming out from this latest report, that only makes Ippei like a whole lot worse. It really is sad, and I knew it would be this way the moment the original report came out, and whatever had been reported since, because you either have obviously the absolute worst case scenario possible, one that Major League Baseball and most of us fans would have in our nightmares, that Ohtani was the one doing something illegal, god forbid even gambling on baseball, or on himself in baseball, and that would obviously have been pure chaos and insanity in the worst way for the game. But then you have the other reality, the one that is just continuing to be proven as the one that is the actual reality, that Ippei really did have an addiction, and he stole a lot of money from Ohtani to help with the debts he was getting himself into. And although that reality may not be nearly as catastrophic for baseball, it's still a very sad situation, Ohtani and Ippei were boys, Ippei was so much more to Ohtani than just his translator, they were together all the time, more so than Ippei was with his own wife, they really did seem to be good friends and have a great relationship that was wholesome, everyone loved it, they were like rock stars together. And now we find out that Ippei was unfaithful and untrustworthy to his best friend and stole so much money from him, while being deceitful and lying about it. I actually don't think Ippei meant to hurt Ohtani or be malicious at all, obviously he did wrong and he knows damn well he did wrong and deserves whatever legal things happen to him, but I also believe that his addiction was so serious that he just felt there was no way out other than doing what he felt he needed to do, to get out of it, even if it meant backstabbing his best friend. He became desperate, which just shows how low people can get when they're suffering with addiction to something and it's horrifying. As much as this is a sigh of relief for most baseball fans and for Dodger fans and anyone associated with that team or Ohtani, it's still a sad situation all around really. You can't ever look at Ippei and his relationship with Ohtani the same again, for valid reasons, and that sucks, but I'm just glad we can move on and not have to worry about any damning implications of what the worst case scenario in this situation would have ended up like. As for the people who were and have been rooting for Ohtani to be guilty and get in trouble, I know I spit bars, but I'm gonna leave it to Alfred to explain those people. He said it best. Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.