DannyW
Senior Member
@northgeorgiasportsman touched on this in another thread, but I think the implications of this situation might deserve a thread of it's own ("Baseball might be about to face a firestorm if Ohtani is implicated in this gambling fiasco.")
Here is the short version.
Earlier this week, information was discovered that indicated that at least $4.5 million had been wire transferred from Ohtani's banking account to an illegal bookmaker in California.
When questioned by ESPN, a spokesman for the Ohtani camp confirmed the wire transfers, and quoted Ohtani as saying he was aware of the transaction. They claimed the reason was that Ohtani's interpreter had gambled and lost the $4.5 million, and Ohtani had agreed to cover the losses.
Less than 24 hours later, a spokesman for Ohtani completed walked back the original explanation, instead claiming Ohtani was the victim of a "massive fraud".
The obvious questions:
1. Why did the story change?
2. How did an $85,000 a year employee, an interpreter, have access to a mega-millionaire's banking account(s)?
3. Were any of the admitted bets, placed on baseball?
4. Were the bets placed by, or under the direction, of Ohtani?
5. And to a lesser extent, IF Ohtani did place the bets, BUT NOT ON BASEBALL, what will MLB do since they were placed in California with an illegal bookmaker? (I suspect a slap on the hand followed by a pat on the back.)
Whoever placed the bets had the unfortunate bad luck to place them with a bookmaker who was already being followed by the FBI. So now a Federal investigation has been opened effectively shutting MLB out of the matter. And you know how long the Federal government takes to do anything.
So, now there will be a black cloud over all MLB this season, and ground zero will be Dodger Stadium. If there is one thing MLB upholds 100% without regard to the player(s) status, it's their gambling rules (see: Joe Jackson and Pete Rose).
I want to believe Ohtani is innocent, but I need some really good answers to the questions above.
Here is the short version.
Earlier this week, information was discovered that indicated that at least $4.5 million had been wire transferred from Ohtani's banking account to an illegal bookmaker in California.
When questioned by ESPN, a spokesman for the Ohtani camp confirmed the wire transfers, and quoted Ohtani as saying he was aware of the transaction. They claimed the reason was that Ohtani's interpreter had gambled and lost the $4.5 million, and Ohtani had agreed to cover the losses.
Less than 24 hours later, a spokesman for Ohtani completed walked back the original explanation, instead claiming Ohtani was the victim of a "massive fraud".
The obvious questions:
1. Why did the story change?
2. How did an $85,000 a year employee, an interpreter, have access to a mega-millionaire's banking account(s)?
3. Were any of the admitted bets, placed on baseball?
4. Were the bets placed by, or under the direction, of Ohtani?
5. And to a lesser extent, IF Ohtani did place the bets, BUT NOT ON BASEBALL, what will MLB do since they were placed in California with an illegal bookmaker? (I suspect a slap on the hand followed by a pat on the back.)
Whoever placed the bets had the unfortunate bad luck to place them with a bookmaker who was already being followed by the FBI. So now a Federal investigation has been opened effectively shutting MLB out of the matter. And you know how long the Federal government takes to do anything.
So, now there will be a black cloud over all MLB this season, and ground zero will be Dodger Stadium. If there is one thing MLB upholds 100% without regard to the player(s) status, it's their gambling rules (see: Joe Jackson and Pete Rose).
I want to believe Ohtani is innocent, but I need some really good answers to the questions above.
