Sound-off with Sinkoff

Episode #3: The Shohei Ohtani story gets even more bizarre!

• Brian Sinkoff • Season 1 • Episode 3

Share episode

In episode #3 of "Sound-off with Sinkoff", Brian Sinkoff discusses the controversy surrounding Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, who has been charged with bank fraud. 

Sinkoff questions how Ohtani could be unaware of the millions of dollars being stolen from his account over a three-year period. He also raises doubts about Mizuhara's claim that none of his 19,000 bets were on baseball. 

Sinkoff criticizes the lack of transparency and accountability from Ohtani and his team, and expresses skepticism about the overall narrative of the case.

Speaker 1:

And hello everybody and welcome to Sound Off with Sinkoff, a podcast starring me, brian Sinkoff. We talk the world of sports, we talk pop culture, we talk zombies, we talk whatever the heck I want to sound off about. Of course, sound Off with Sinkoff is sponsored by the Sinkoff Realty Group, a full-service real estate firm located in Del Mar, the capital region of New York. All right, so I wanted to sound off today about Shohei Ohtani and sort of what is going on with the Dodger star. Just wanted to say that here on April 11th, it is found out that Mizuhara Ipe Mizuhara, his longtime confidant, his interpreter, otani's longtime confidant and interpreter, has been charged with bank fraud After it was revealed he transferred more than $16 million from Otani's account to an alleged illegal sportsbook. That's what federal authorities announced in LA court. Now we should also point out that Mizohara was instantly fired when this came out a few weeks ago, you know, right before this. Actually, it was like the first week of the regular season, because the first game was in Japan, the Dodgers were playing the first game and all of a sudden you know, the guy is, the Dodgers were playing the first game and all of a sudden, the guy the Dodgers distanced themselves from the interpreter. Otani distanced themselves from the interpreter.

Speaker 1:

First the interviews were oh, I got in a gambling debt. This is what Muzahara said. I got in a gambling debt. Otani bailed me out and then it was like oh wait, no, that's wrong. I lied. I stole all this money from Otani. We first thought it was $4 million. Then it turns out it's $16 million. People, the math is not mathing here.

Speaker 1:

I read the documents today that were uh issued at the court. They said um mizuhara changed the accounts on otani's name. They changed the accounts um that that he was the one. Who, who, um, who you know, did the transfers when the bank called. But you know, when the bank called him, it was. He was saying he was. He was falsifying the records. I don't believe that for a second. Let's just let's think about. Let's just think about what came out today.

Speaker 1:

The complaint states that between december 2021, in this past january, mizuhara allegedly placed 19,000 bets. He lost $182 million. He won $142 million. He lost nearly $40 million. He stole $26 million from Otani. Excuse me, he stole $14 million from Otani. Where on earth did the other $26 million come from? Who covered the $40 million in losses if Otani only allegedly stole $14 million from Otani. $14 million from Otani, it's a lot of bets and it just doesn't add up 19,000 bets. And also, the feds have said today that none of the bets were on baseball.

Speaker 1:

Now I find this almost as hard to believe as I do that somehow Otani was not involved. Do I think Shohei Otani was betting on baseball? I want to be clear about this and say I don't. I don't know if he was. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I am really firm in my belief that Shohei Otani knew something about this. Maybe didn't know as he was in it, but as his translator got, as he was in it, but as his translator got knee-deep into it, I think Otani tried to bail him out. But there is no way he didn't have anything to do with this. I don't believe it for a second. And they're saying that the translator cut out Otani's management, his money, people, all of that stuff. So he had unfettered cut out otani's management, his money, people, all of that stuff. So he had unfettered access to otani's account and did whatever he wanted and there was no oversight.

Speaker 1:

When this broke in march, I said three things. One, it was otani who was involved in the betting and he was a gambler. I didn't know about, all right, I didn't know that that was the case. No-transcript or three. He is the most naive person in the world, gullible. And this guy really stole from me and no knowledge. I think it's probably somewhere in the middle of two and three.

Speaker 1:

I don't think Otani is naive. I don't know that he was betting, but I can tell you right now, I just find it hard to believe that a guy making 25 bets every day for 750 straight days, that his best friend, the guy who spent every waking moment with him, didn't know something was going on. And again, not to say that Otani bet on games, not to say that he was betting on baseball, but it's just, it's too, too weird. And here's the other thing you know, I bought shoes at zappos last week. My credit card buzzed me and said you're spending money, brian, on something that isn't normal. Is this a real charge? I paid a bill. Um, what did I pay? I paid, oh, for this podcast, for the website I host this podcast on. I paid a year subscription. My credit card got locked because I didn't you know, it didn't recognize a $200-whatever charge and it locked my credit card, recognized a 200 and whatever dollar charge and it locked my credit card. So you know the bank is allowing all of this money to take place.

Speaker 1:

Otani is never directly involved. His money. People aren't directly involved. Now, if he 16 million dollars, if he took from otani, otani only made about $40 million in salary with the Angels. Okay, he made a lot more in endorsements.

Speaker 1:

I don't know how did he not check his bank account? I mean, literally, it just doesn't add up. Did Otani? I don't care that the guy was stealing from him, I don't care that he may not have authorized the payments and maybe the guy was falsifying the permission to the bank about transferring money. But did Ohtani never look at his bank account? Did he never see that millions of dollars was missing? Did he not see that $500,000 is going out here and $2,000 is going out here? Just something doesn't add up up the math ain't mathing. 16 million.

Speaker 1:

Um, he stole from otani. He was 40 million in debt. Where's the other 24 million dollars? Or, excuse me, where's the other 26 million dollars? It doesn't make any sense. Um, also, how is the bookie allowing a translator who makes roughly three hundred thousand dollars a year? How is he giving um on just just unlimited amount of credit, like I don't get that. He had unfettered access to otani's account. He's given unlimited credit by a bookie.

Speaker 1:

Bookies aren't really known at that level for being nice to letting it slide. This ain't the bookie you used in college betting on the USC game for you know $200. Okay, this is high-end gambling stakes where you're talking. You know thousands of bets over the course of time. I just don't get it. 24 bets a day for 26 straight months. I don't know, it's just. It's. How is he given that type of credit line? That is what I don't understand. And Otani not finding out? How does he not know? How do his handlers not know? Isn't someone watching his account? I mean, he has got to be the most naive person in the world if he doesn't know that his money was missing. I don't think Otani was oblivious. If he is, he's naive.

Speaker 1:

What bookie taking that type of action? It's just a bookie taking that type of action not knowing if there's someone behind this that can finance the deal is why I find this all hard to believe. I don't think a bookie who is making bets of millions of dollars $182 million. The bookie was just allowing these bets to happen out of the goodness of his heart. If he didn't think in his heart of hearts, the guy could pay it back. I mean, you're talking $182 million in losing bets and $142 million in winning bets. That's a $40 million difference. He allegedly took $14 million from Otani speaking of Mizohara the translator, so there's $26 million of. How did he pay it back? Did he not pay it back? Is he in debt?

Speaker 1:

And here's the other thing people, I love the fact that this guy made 19,000 bets. Right, his translator, mizohara, made 19,000 bets, bets, and not one of them was on baseball. Are you buying that? Seriously, are you buying a guy who's making 19,000 bets? Who's making let's run the math, because I wrote this down 25 bets every day for 750 straight days? Are you buying that? Not one of those bets was on baseball.

Speaker 1:

I mean, first of all, when you get that much in debt, you bet on anything. I mean you bet on, you know you, you literally will bet on. Uh, do I take a pee or a poop the next morning? Um, you know, is you know what time does the mail come? I mean, that's a bet. Is it before 10 or after 10? I'll bet you $50. It's after 10 am. Like people that have that much of a gambling problem are betting on any and everything, and I just 19,000 bets, but we never bet on baseball. But you're $40 million in debt. Like does it add up? Just, let's just peel this all away for a second. This doesn't add up, it just doesn't make sense. And it's the Feds and Major League Baseball and the Dodgers and even the Angels to a degree. They've all just pushed this dirt under the rug. Okay, they have all basically just said well, otani didn't know about it, the guy stole from him. End of story.

Speaker 1:

Otani makes a statement through his new translator, never answers any questions, the problem just goes away. Like he's never had to face the music, he's never had to face questions on all of this, and I find that a little just a little bit of a slap in the face. Like face the music dude. Your translator stole from you. Your best friend stole from you. You haven't answered any questions to the fans. Forget the media. The media is just. They're just a go-between between the fans and the player. Now, in this day and age age, he can do some on his own twitter. He can. He can put out a statement himself. He hasn't done that. So it's like where is his explanation? Why hasn't he answered any questions? Why isn't he answered questions the fans are asking? Because, I'm sorry, I have a lot of questions.

Speaker 1:

I'm not sitting here today telling you shohei otani bet on baseball. I'm not sitting here today telling you Shohei Ohtani bet on baseball. I'm not sitting here today telling you that Shohei Ohtani bet on his own team or bet on, you know, pitched bad on purpose to get money. I'm just telling you that there is a lot of weirdness with this case. There's a lot of money involved. There's $180 million of gambling. I mean, is that the number I looked at? Yeah, there's 182 million dollars of gambling that someone did that lost and they won 142. They won 142, gambled 182, 142, so they lost 40 million dollars. That was going on for three years.

Speaker 1:

How otani didn't know some of that money was missing and remember it wasn't the stolen money, it was the money he was using to finance it, to make the bets. So I think a lot of people are getting this like twisted. Oh we, you know he only missed 16 million or 14 million, whatever it was that he took from from otani, but he was using otani's money to gamble every day, like that money. I mean that money was not 19 000 wagers, 25 that's a day for 750 straight days. And nobody like that. Money's coming out of otani's account and he's not noticing that because the guy only made 300 000 a year. He didn't have the money to bet that type of cash on games. He would have lost his money quick In two months. He wouldn't have been able to do that for 750 days. So remember, otani was this money he was stealing from. Otani was financing his bets.

Speaker 1:

And again, it's just, it doesn't add up. I don't understand it. There's too many questions To me. It's like Otani is the golden boy of baseball. He's the $700 million man. He's the face of baseball. He's finally an international face, someone that the sport can get behind to maybe grow the game.

Speaker 1:

And this happens. Major League Baseball has pushed this under the rug. The Dodgers have pushed it under the rug. I'm not saying the feds are in on it, because I think the end of the day, they're just trying to bring down this gambler and whoever gets in the way gets in the way or not. The gambler, this bookie, they're trying to bring him down. That's what the investigation center is on, but there's just a lot of weirdness going on here. The math ain't mathing people. So that's my thoughts on Otani and his translator.

Speaker 1:

Again, total loss is $40.7 million. He allegedly took $14 million from Otani. Where's the other $26 million? How is this guy using Otani's accounts for three years and Otani didn't know money was missing? Dude, I know $37 of our account's missing. You know I got double charged for something. I'm like wait, because I do my finances.

Speaker 1:

And I find it hard to believe that a Major League Baseball player even if Mizohara was directly involved in the accounts and it was his name on it he was falsifying the records. How does Otani not have an accountant? How does he not have someone who's managing the big picture? That's not his translator, that's not on the field with him. Quote unquote I mean, I have that, you have that. I have an accountant who's not in the day-to-day trenches with me, who's looking at big picture, who's analyzing the funds, what's coming in, what's going out. How's nobody seeing that? And if nobody saw that, his camp, everyone associated with him and his money deserves to be fired yesterday. What on God's green earth is going on? What in the hell in Troy is that? I don't get it. I don't get it. People, the math ain't mathing. So again, a lot of weirdness going on. Not saying he bet on baseball, not saying he threw games, but for him not to know, and his team to not know, that money had been taken from him on a daily basis for three years. It just doesn't add up. So that's it.

Speaker 1:

That is SoundOff with SinkOff here today. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Love to get your thoughts on this. Prove me wrong. It's weird, whatever you think. It's just I've asked relevant questions. I don't think my questions and my hypothesis is that far out of line, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. Love to get your. You know whether you agree with me here. You have other ideas? Love to hear them. Don't forget.

Speaker 1:

Soundoff with SyncOff is back. You can find me in all the major podcast platforms, also on YouTube. You can see the video on youtube as well as spotify, and if you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to shoot me an email, brian, at sinkoffrealtygroupcom. Thank you so much for watching. Of course, sound off with sink off is sponsored by the sink off realty group. Right here in the capital region of new york, if you're buying or selling a home, you know who to reach out to just me or someone on the team. We will get all of your housing needs taken care of for you. So that's it. Appreciate you watching Till next time. I'm Brian Sinkoff saying have a great day everybody.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Brian Sinkoff

Host