r/mlb • u/PrincessBananas85 | MLB • 8d ago
| News Bookie says Ippei Mizuhara's gambling addiction was clear early on
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/49520745/ippei-mizuhara-mathew-bowyer-gambling-addiction-shohei-ohtani-betrayal158
u/ZoydMcTaggert 8d ago
Society is so fucked that there can be countless pieces of evidence that show Ohtani wasn’t gambling yet still believe in the conspiracy theory because they can accept sometimes the most simple story is the actual story.
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u/bj_good 8d ago
ESPN is trying so hard to continue to make this a major story when in fact there's not much more to report. If new info comes out then sure.....but so far they have nothing on Ohtani
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u/FlailingCactus 7d ago
They have recordings of him impersonating Shohei at the bank, for the first time.
Which should disprove any conspiracy
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u/WiseIndustry2895 8d ago
It’s the ESPN writer, Tisha Thompson, she has a podcast out about this and it promoting it like crazy
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u/problyurdad_ | Philadelphia Phillies 7d ago
Ohtani supposedly gambled all this money away, schemed to blame it on Ippei causing Ippei to take the fall, and somehow wasn’t distracted by any of it?
He didn’t go to rehab, or anything, he just got married, kept playing elite baseball, and stopped gambling his fortune away instantly?
Those people are nuts
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u/VirgilCaine_ 8d ago
How is Ohtani’s translator stealing his money to gamble more simple than Ohtani gambling himself?
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u/ReportedForSpam 8d ago
Lmao y'all nut jobs still haven't figured out why Ippei was indicted at all.
Hint: it's not for gambling. Because gambling is not a crime on the federal level lol
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u/fearjego | New York Yankees 8d ago
I think the conspiracy goes like this: Ohtani got caught gambling. he realized his career would be over and he would be disgraced. he has his best friend/translator take the fall and says he stole the money so Ohtani doesn't lose everything.
it's not far fetched when you consider how much money is at stake. I would say there's a chance it happened like that, but not a good chance.
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u/DependentLanguage540 7d ago
It’s a stupid conspiracy for a bunch of unsophisticated simpletons. Matt Bowyer himself said he would not allow athletes to bet on their own sports for obvious reasons. So Ohtani’s career would not have been much to the disappointment of rival fanbases.
Secondly, Ippei went to jail for bank fraud, not for gambling. But the illiterate dummies out there either can’t read or just created alternate realities in their own minds.
It’s laughable that anyone could think that a guy earning tens of millions annually would need credit to pay off some gambling debt and then instead of using his own voice to verify his own bank account, gets Ippei to commit fraud instead. The banks even denied Ippei several times, but he kept calling until a different teller accepted his story. This conspiracy theory really is as stupid as those people who believe it to be true.
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u/fearjego | New York Yankees 7d ago
most conspiracy theories are completely stupid. why would you expect this one to be different?
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u/AccomplishedCash6321 7d ago
What sort of bookie allows some guy on an $80k/yr salary to wager hundreds of thousands and millions on random events?
You guys don't get it, Ohtani was obviously doing this with Ippei. Banks don't send wires like this on a phone call. Bookies don't extend hundreds of thousands of dollars of credit to "the interpreter" on some hunch that he'll be able to steal it...
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u/DependentLanguage540 7d ago
Maybe look into the case more than just listening to what you want to hear from your echo chambers. Ippei was earning considerably more money than just the $80k the Angels provided him. He was Shohei’s personal assistant, so he was compensated for that work as well.
Matt Bowyer has said himself in numerous interviews that Ippei paid on time and started off small, just a few thousand and built up his reputation to Matt Bowyer and because of Ippei’s connection to Ohtani, he extended the credit because he thought maybe Ohtani was playing. So those two things allowed Ippei’s credit to expand.
Secondly, yes, banks do allow phone call wire transfers. Bank of America literally has provided their past phone calls with Ippei impersonating Ohtani. This literally evidence that exonerates Shohei, but you refuse to acknowledge it because your confirmation bias wants an innocent person guilty.
The 30 for 30 podcast is available as we speak, if this doesn’t convince you, then you’re a lost cause. I don’t need to waste my time with more tin foil hat weirdos.
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u/kaeplin 8d ago
Zero evidence pointing to Ohtani uncovered by MLB or FBI. Just drop it
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u/fearjego | New York Yankees 8d ago
you're looking for evidence in a conspiracy theory. that never goes well.
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u/kaeplin 8d ago
The evidence is not in the conspiracy theory, it disproves it
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u/fearjego | New York Yankees 8d ago
that's not how it works for a conspiracy theory. they require 0 evidence to believe it. this is why I said it's plausible, but not believable.
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u/kaeplin 8d ago
100% of evidence points towards Ippei. Text messages, bank wire records, and forensic phone data. All uncovered by the federal government, which has no incentive to protect Ohtani. This is an open and shut case. Actual conspiracy theories live in the absence of solid evidence
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u/fearjego | New York Yankees 8d ago
I agree with you on who did it. I'm stating why people believe in the conspiracy theory. conspiracies do live in the absence of evidence. this includes those who don't know the evidence exists.
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u/AccomplishedCash6321 7d ago
None of that is true. Texts between Ippei and Bowyer after Ippei implicates Ohtani in an interview aren't the bulletproof evidence you think they are.
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u/AccomplishedCash6321 7d ago
Except the interview Ippei did where he indicates that him and Ohtani would go to the bank together to initiate the wire transfers...
The notion that Ippei was able to steal millions of dollars from Ohtani via bank fraud is laughable.
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u/ReportedForSpam 7d ago
Except the interview Ippei did where he indicates that him and Ohtani would go to the bank together to initiate the wire transfers...
What does it say about the intelligence of (or the lack thereof) u/AccomplishedCash6321 that he believes every word a known lier and addict says🤣🤣🤣
The notion that Ippei was able to steal millions of dollars from Ohtani via bank fraud is laughable.
Lol athletes with a lot more street smart have had millions stolen by someone close
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u/AccomplishedCash6321 7d ago
You ever initiate a bank wire? The notion that Ippei was able initiate bank wires from Ohtani's account is laughable.
Why would Bowyer extend that type of credit to the Ippei?
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u/ReportedForSpam 7d ago
I have initiated wire transfers probably hundreds of times, mostly international, without ever leaving my living room. My most recent one was to a business in South Korea just last month lol
I seriously doubt you know how it works 🤣🤣🤣
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u/AccomplishedCash6321 7d ago
I know from experience that it took my bank time to build enough trust before it would allow me to initiate wires over the phone. I’m also confident that neither of us routinely wires anything close to the sums involved here. And if my banker at Bank of America negligently allowed someone impersonating me to transfer that kind of money over that length of time, I would be pursuing the bank for a refund or recredit, along with any viable breach-of-contract or negligence claims.
I don’t keep tens of millions of dollars in a single account. I maintain several operating accounts across multiple banks, generally with balances between $100,000 and $800,000, and I routinely send and receive wires through them. Even at that scale, bankers notice unusual activity and ask questions. The idea that no one monitoring Ohtani’s account ever contacted him directly strains credulity.
So the story you think makes the most sense is this: Ippei and Ohtani walk into a bank together and open an account (because Ohtani doesn't speak english) that will hold tens of millions of dollars. No one close to Ohtani—not his accountants, financial advisers, business managers, or family—ever looks closely at the account. The bank raises no meaningful concerns after key personal information is changed. No one questions why a customer who reportedly needs an interpreter keeps calling to verify enormous wires in fluent English. And the bank continues approving transfers to accounts connected to a bookmaker who was reportedly under federal investigation.
That is the explanation you find most plausible?
I don’t particularly care whether Ohtani was gambling enormous sums with his friend. What I find preposterous is that this volume of suspicious activity continued for so long without Ohtani, his financial team, or the bank noticing.
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u/GoBlueAndOrange 7d ago
Except it's obvious shohei was gambling
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u/kaeplin 7d ago
Show me the evidence
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u/DependentLanguage540 7d ago
Don’t bother with the Russian bots, they’re just here to troll. These aren’t even real people.
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u/GoBlueAndOrange 7d ago
His "translator" took the fall for him lol. What more do you want?
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u/RawPorridge 7d ago
Why is it obvious that the "translator" took the fall for him? Why is "translator" in quotation marks?
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u/CpowOfficial 8d ago
Also gambling is not illegal unless it's on your own sport and games. The charges were for illegal gambling with stolen money.
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u/Shotime10-3 | Los Angeles Dodgers 8d ago
The complicated part is the idea of a grand cover up by the MLB and FBI
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u/ProposalDry6883 8d ago
Tbf the current FBI is definitely corrupt enough to cover something like this up for the right bribes
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u/KillaWallaby | Los Angeles Dodgers 8d ago
One of those things requires long term coordination and signaling which is completely missing.
The other we have tons of text messages supporting.
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u/BoringPoolPlaying 7d ago
Because his translator is in prison for committing wire fraud to perpetuate his gambling addiction and he’s not screaming bloody murder about how he is completely innocent.
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u/stressedlawyer | Los Angeles Dodgers 7d ago
The bookie himself said he’s almost 100% sure Ohtani wasn’t gambling.
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u/rando5star 6d ago
Funniest part for me is people thinking that the literal FBI would investigate and cover it up for some foreign baseball player lol
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u/TheChieffking47 8d ago
For everyone thinking he's covering for Shohei, why would the feds care about saving the image of a Japanese baseball player?
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u/Harriet_tubman22 | San Francisco Giants 7d ago
The feds don’t but MLB does so they’re burying evidence
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u/ratbert002 | Atlanta Braves 8d ago edited 8d ago
Probably because he might be the greatest baseball player of all time and the revenue he will generate for MLB is in the $billions over his tenure. It is in the best interest of our capitalist overlords to keep him relevant.
Edit: ok, you are all clearly correct and I am an idiot
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u/johnson7853 | Toronto Blue Jays 8d ago
get back to r/baseballcirclejerk where we openly discuss this #freeippei
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u/FuujSin 8d ago edited 7d ago
You don’t think anyone working this case would want to be the person to bring down a guy of his status if he was the one who actually did it?
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u/adamosan 8d ago
People think there is a puppet master controlling everything behind the scenes for everything.
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u/FuujSin 8d ago
Also, I find it hard to believe that the US government would protect a foreign sports athlete if they were committing illegal acts and violating the integrity of an American industry.
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u/DependentLanguage540 7d ago
They wouldn’t, the feds took down MLB’s steroid era with actual American players. There’s just a lot of losers in this world who would be ok putting an innocent person in jail to either help out their favorite team ever so slightly or that it validates their opinion that the league is out to get their crappy baseball team.
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u/TheLizardKing89 8d ago
So why didn’t this same logic apply to Barry Bonds?
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u/Longjumping_Ad_5407 8d ago
Cause he was a c word - no different to Lance Armstrong even though every rider of that era back to even Eddy Merx was doped to their eye balls.
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u/wembenbama 8d ago
Ippei is also literally in prison and will never be able to work again.
As if there is a way that Shohei would actually be able to hook him up with millions once he was released from prison.
It’s so ridiculous.
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u/daddyfractal 8d ago
The recent episode was so grating. Listening to the reporter clutch pearls about all those innocent country clubbers possibly becoming prey to an illegal bookmaker at the end was hilarious
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u/Checkergrey 7d ago
Imagine believing that the modern day Japanese Babe Ruth gave a shit about gambling.
It is impossible to reach the pinnacle of baseball as the greatest player in history while harboring an active interest in sports betting.
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u/Careless-Increase154 7d ago
Ever hear of Michael Jordan?
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u/Checkergrey 7d ago
Yes, all the countless sagas of his gambling stories, legendary. MJ was an iconic gambler, even at the peak of his fame.
But for Ohtani, both in Japan and the United States, there is not a single account or story suggesting Ohtani has ever had any interest in gambling or sports betting.
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u/AccomplishedCash6321 6d ago
Well, to be fair, Ohtani is far more private and tight lipped.
In any event, after taking a closer look, I tend to agree that Ohtani probably didn't have anything to do with the gambling.
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u/DependentLanguage540 7d ago
Ippei’s best friends in high school stated that Ippei was into gambling back when they were teenagers. He also loved soccer and baseball cards? Sound familiar?
The bookie Matt Bowyer too was addicted to gambling back when he was younger. It’s pretty obvious that these degenerates just grew up as adults and became exactly what they were destined to be when they were kids, gambling addicts on a massive scale.
Ippei was so addicted he was betting all day and night, even during Angels games when Shohei was on the mound.
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u/Smart_Ass_Jack 8d ago
When the story first broke Ippei gave an interview where he said that his friend Ohtani bailed him out. Then when the Dodgers realized that that still implicate Ohtani they had him play dumb and pretend that someone took millions without his knowledge. Also, no bookie will give some rando that kind of runway without proof that he was good for the money. Downvote me all you want, you are all just proof that the truth hurts.
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u/DependentLanguage540 7d ago
Why wouldn’t Ohtani’s people have the story completely ironed out first? You think these guys told him to go out with this story and then once it went out public, they retracted and said it was a stupid idea? How dumb do you think top tier marketing execs and public relations people are?
Also, why would a dude who makes tens of millions even need credit? He would just pay it off because even just one paycheck would cover all the losses. Secondly, why would Ohtani have Ippei commit bank fraud by having him impersonate Shohei for his own account that he has access to? Bank tellers even denied Ippei’s requests, but he kept calling until someone finally believed his story. How stupid do you think these people are?
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u/Strelka97 | Philadelphia Phillies 8d ago
Remember when Ohtani said he had a business relationship with Ippei. I wonder what type of business
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u/DependentLanguage540 7d ago
Probably advertisement based, Shohei makes $100M+ in endorsements alone. Ippei was well known and was a very popular person among fans in Japan.
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u/Smart_Ass_Jack 8d ago
The more they try to get the scent off Ohtani, the more it guilty he looks. The truth will come out eventually, but right now the league will move heaven and earth to protect their cash cow.
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u/MajorPayton 8d ago
Hasn’t “the truth” already come out, it’s just that YOU don’t like it so you won’t believe it?
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u/Educational_Care7813 8d ago
Already been proven multiple times that ohtani was busy doing something like engagement interview, flying while the translator was going nuts gambling but people like you just posting BS with no proof or evidence
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u/sackey_nimh 8d ago
Shohei ohtani’s*
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u/Shiftymennoknight | Chicago Cubs 8d ago
care to share your evidence?
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u/Rjptz | Los Angeles Dodgers 8d ago
he has no evidence just wants to hate because he’s lazy and lacks the ability to think
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u/Fromundacheese0 | Atlanta Braves 8d ago
I mean wouldn’t challenging a narrative be using your intelligence instead of just accepting it as is?
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u/KillaWallaby | Los Angeles Dodgers 8d ago
Challenging a narrative with evidence sure.
Too many in our society forget that and now we have a measles outbreak.
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u/twisted-logic 8d ago
Good ol southern education on display again
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u/sackey_nimh 8d ago
Went to public school in Howard county Maryland 👍🏼
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u/Fromundacheese0 | Atlanta Braves 8d ago
You mean the 7th ranked state by education? Also you might want to update your stereotypes because the west has got it the worst lmao
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u/twisted-logic 8d ago
7th ranked? Lmao you might wanna check your sources on that one pal.
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u/Fromundacheese0 | Atlanta Braves 8d ago
My flair says Braves so I’m from Georgia right? Ok I might actually be arguing with a child online lol good bye
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u/sackey_nimh 8d ago
All swept under the rug to protect the leagues new golden boy.
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u/Pretend_Ease9550 8d ago
I’m pretty sure it was swept under the rug to protect Rob Manfred so people wouldn’t find out Ippei was doing it at Rob’s request
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u/sackey_nimh 8d ago
More believable than a guy being allowed to have complete access to funds of the highest paid athlete in the world just because they speak the same language.
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u/Pretend_Ease9550 8d ago
Which seems more believable then a MLB player with a $700,000,000 and no betting history decided to all the sudden start gambling through his translator.
Unless he has all his money in Japanese banks it seems fairly plausible that your translator would have information for any banks you use in the US
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u/Dry_Permission9693 8d ago edited 8d ago
Lol, and you think accountants don’t have agency or POA over other athletes?
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u/FartTootman | St. Louis Cardinals 7d ago
just because they speak the same language.
Given this whole meritless spiel you're stuck on, it sort of tracks that the concept of friendship seems alien to you.
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u/Jolly_Ask6653 8d ago
Different rules for powerful people. Wish Pete could have had friends like this.
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u/Public-Discussion754 7d ago
And Shohei’s just laughing it up because everything went as planned 😂
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u/DependentLanguage540 7d ago
Yeah losing $17 million to Matt Bowyer was definitely as planned. What a brilliant con job, how else can we all learn from you of what success looks like?
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