FBI showed us any evidence for Shohei's innocent. Rich, Jeff, Show us any evidence. It's your turn. Get back here. Take responsibility for what you said all over the world.

Most people in sports talk can't even speak two languages, but were very quick to crucify Ohtani.

If you are a skeptic, why did you not doubt the interview with a gambler with a penchant for falsehoods much? And if you are a full-fledged adult, why can't you say a single word of apology after making such a grossly defamatory statement about the victim? I do not understand it at all.

They tried to portray the victim, Ohtani, as a criminal based on poor evidence. Whether Mizuhara is a villain or Ohtani's English is inadequate, these are no excuses for not apologizing to Ohtani. I can't help but feel that at their core, there is a discriminatory disrespect towards Ohtani, who is Japanese.

Jeff Passan on the Shohei Ohtani incident two weeks ago on the Michael Kay Show: "I trust my instincts. And my instincts say: There is something rotten as hell!" Michael Kay then says, "Your instincts is right!" Also Jeff Passan on that same video: "Trust and verify. I trust that you're telling me the truth, but I am damn sure gonna verify it." Apparently, Jeff Passan did not verify before he spoke and insinuated that Ohtani was gambling and that there was some kind of cover up.

Several days before the Feds cleared Ohtani, Jeff Passan went to Michael Kay's show and said this case was "rotten as hell". Passan, Tisha Thompson and (ex ESPN) Rich Eisen were all too sensational to the extent they all created a baseless cloud of suspicion surrounding Ohtani. First, they tried to spread Mizuhara’s bogus confession even after he recanted it. Second, they emphasized on “change of story by Ohtani” which didn’t exist. Third, they questioned if (and which) authorities have been contacted by Ohtani’s lawyers. Fourth, they repeatedly questioned if the purported theft was possible without Ohtani’s involvement or knowledge. Feds cleared all of these doubts and say Ohtani was a victim through and through. Ohtani had previously stated such in the clearest language and unusually strong legal position. The victim has no further obligation to answer to anyone else but authorities, to which he fully cooperated. ESPN should look back and think what they did. I can imagine Thompson’s eyes lit up when she saw Ohtani’s name in the leaked investigation. This could have been her career defining moment as the breaker of the next Pete Rose. But trying to publish Mizuhara’s initial account without directly vetting Ohtani is beyond sloppy. She was saved by Ohtani’s lawyers and LA times but went on to publish Ippei’s lies anyway to cause enough damage and confusion to the extent Ohtani haters continue to throw their fall-guy conspiracy theories even today. Rich Eisen should have taken the wait-and-see despite all this McGwire nonsense (which itself created the presumption of guilt). Instead, Eisen, a self-claimed Ohtani fan, used his platform to actively contribute to creating the atmosphere of suspicion.

You must go to Japan to open the bank account. Don't change the point. The point is that Ohtani is a victim,not how much he can understand English.

When do we stop calling this a gambling case and start calling it a theft/embezzlement crime. The gambling seems secondary as a newsworthy topic now that Ohtani is in the clear.

Ohtani's English is good enough to communicate with his teammates. But his english is not good enough to understand financial words. Try to read the english in any of the patents. You will understand those requires quite a but of effort to understand what is going on even for native English speakers.

Is it a sin to trust people too much? Is it a sin to be uninterested in money?

Easy. Sue ESPN, Jeff Passan and Tisha Thompson

Rich, spend some of your millions and hire an investigator if you insist on making Shohei guilty.

ESPN reported without question what Mizuhara said, who has been lying constantly for years, telling Otani to learn English, but isn't what is being done the same as Otani, who cannot speak English, being deceived by Mizuhara? Why does Otani attract so many people from all over the world? It is because he genuinely enjoys and loves baseball like a child. He expresses the excellence of the sport of baseball with his whole body, transcending language. The account from which the money was stolen is the account that contains the annual salary, and it is reported that the money has never been touched for three years. This also shows Otani's humanity.

Come on. Just move on. One thing I can tell you guys, I am from Japan and moved to LA almost 40 years ago. First few years, my English was good enough to have casual conversation and understood relating about my profession. However it took me years more to understand formal letters, legal letters, documents, contracts etc. Because there are vocabularies that we don't use in everyday life. Other thing is I was able to speak better than hearing English especially not familiar vocabularies. I would imagine if Ohtani hears vocabulary that he is not used to hear, then he probably would not understands.

Move on Rich. You and your show are really looking so bad right now. Stop questioning about Ohtani's English comprehension. He came to MLB to play baseball and not to be a linguist. Passan doesn't even know Ohtani that well.

You guys are still making money using Otani's name today.

No wonder Ohtani is playing for only 2 million dollars per season lol he doesn’t even use his MLB salary. Only person that hated he took 2 million per was Ippei. He was probably thinking “f**k only 2 million per year how I’m I supposed to gamble with that” 😂

あなた達がそれほど大谷を疑うなら、今年日本に行って銀行口座を開設してみてください。 どれほど大変なことかわかると思います。あなた達は政府機関と同じように大谷が賭博に関わっていたという証拠を持っているから報道しているんですよね？そうでないのならあなた達は証拠も持っていたのに疑っている陰謀論者と変わらないと思います。

How about the ramficiation of rushing to judgement, Rich? What is the ripple effect of that possibly ruining someone's reputation before the facts have come out? The question for you is how do you plan to react differently if something like this occurs with a different sports star? If you don't plan to change anything, then you have not learned anything.

You have to understand that terms you use in baseball, in medical field, finance are all different. Ohtani might have gotten used to terms that are often used in baseball but probably not in finance. These are the struggles you will never know unless you lived in a different country.

The only story left is some of you guys stake your reputation on an addicts lie and you guys are trying to salvage what’s left of that reputation. It’s over, Ohtani was robbed and lied to. Move on.

It was not just that Ohtani trusted Ippei too much, the problem was that his business manager, agent, Dodger staff all trusted Ippei too much. A mistake that they are not likely to make again with any interpreter.

Ippei is an evil conman.

From Japan 日本から； If you want to accuse him of something here you can accuse him of being surrounded or surrounding himself with the wrong people who always try to find fault or to make harsh and unfair judgments without any reasonable basis. Funnily enough, they call themselves " journalists" even though they are quite fond of a response or comment, being solely based on guesswork rather than on fact or proof. Unfortunately, those who find fault with other people tend to be blind to their own fault.

I believe this is is story that you often see in immigrant families. The translator/manager situation reminds me of when my family and I moved to the US from Italy in 1978. We settled in Bensonhurst, NY, where I began attending New Utrecht High School. Soon after starting, I was in a fight with a bully. When the school counselor called my parents about my suspension, I had to step in as the translator since my parents didn't speak English and the counselor's Italian was far from perfect. I managed to convince my parents that I was doing so well in school that I was granted three days of home study as a reward. They believed me and praised my achievements. However, my triumph was short-lived. A few days later, a neighbor spilled the beans about the fight to my mother. I ended up getting a terrible beating from her. From then on, my parents relied on my younger brother to translate for the family, for years.

My mom is Vietnamese and moved here in 1967. To this day, she can barely understand financial stuff that I have to take care of her and my step dad’s affairs since he has come down with Alzheimer's. I think a lot of people don’t have a grasp or understanding of finances, let alone foreigners.

大谷がアメリカに渡るとすぐに、高校生レベルと酷評し、今度は犯罪者扱いしていた。何回、大谷を傷つければ気がすむんだ？

There are levels of language fluency. It’s not a simple yes or no when you are learning a second language. Jeff Passan talked with Ohtani in English about a baseball game, but I doubt he would have the same impression of Ohtani's English fluency if they were discussing complicated topics like financial, legal, or medical issues which require a higher level of fluency. In addition, one-on-one conversations tend to be easier to follow along in your non-primary language, than discussions in group settings, meetings, lectures, or fast-paced discussions. In fact, in Ohtani's press conference and the federal complaint, Ohtani states that he understood something was wrong at the Dodgers team meeting, but did not understand the details of what was being discussed. Plus, I think it's important to note that when Jeff Passan spoke with Ohtani he had lived in the US for a few years. I'm sure his recent/current level of English is not reflective of his fluency when he first came to the US in 2018 and Mizuhara helped him to set up the bank account he later stole from. At that time, he most likely knew very little English. Unless reporters have Ohtani's TOEFL scores, I think it's best not to assess his overall English fluency based on one conversation about a topic that Ohtani is very familiar with and a short interview about baseball cleats. BTW, on Twitter, you can also find a video of the person interviewing Ohtani about his cleats asking Ohtani to record a congratulation video to his daughter's friend on their recent graduation and Ohtani asks if he can say the message in Japanese, not English.

Here's what I'll say about Rich's question about Shohei's English. One can be fairly conversant in conversational English but be at a total loss when it comes to the simplest financial terms. Even the words that appear on something as "basic" as an ATM interface (balance inquiry, transfers and payments, recent transactions, etc.) could be things he wouldn't pick up in conversational English.

I wish Rich will try learning Japanese to find out that the two languages are so different. 多分彼は、自分のネイティブじゃない言葉を学んで生活する大変さを知らないね。だからこういう疑問ばかり浮かぶんだろうね。大谷のことを語るなら、一度日本語を勉強してみたらよいのでは？

あなたの誤報は何度目でしょうか。

It is such inconvenient truth for conspiracy theorists. FBI has come to the conclusion that Shohei is a victim of scam.

As a Japanese, I would say Shohei’s English ability is about 20-30% of native people, which is enough to have casual conversations, but not enough to communicate in complicated situations, especially finances. However, I’m sure he can read, so his agent and accountant could have sent him English messages (and kindly with Japanese google translation) if it’s important.

To be clear, the financial institutions that transferred the funds will be reimbursing Ohtani 100%

This has nothing to do with interpreters. Athletes since the dawn of mankind have had friends/hangers-on exploiting them regardless of their levels of English.

U can conspire all u wnt but fact of matter is Shohei still playing ball and intrptr still going to prison. This is just simply for views.

7:00 I think Shohei would understand that (even if not 100%). That's why Ippei showed up alone at the meeting with their accountant and lied to him that Shohei was sick.

I’m glad to see many smart people are commenting here.

RICH and other trying to make SHOHEI guilty as much as possible

This Rich guy making this about himself now. Give it up man. Let's move forward. You should apology to Ohtani. We're still waiting.

If Ippei was an employee of the Dodgers and Angels, could they be sued for their employee's theft?

Ohtanis handlers should have had their own interpreter.

I do think this will be a lesson for future stars, not even just in baseball, to at least keep better tabs on stuff. There’s been other athletes that have been screwed by family, managers, etc but this is imo the biggest warning I’ve witnessed so far.

お母さんに「間違ったら素直に謝りなさい」って教わらなかったの？かわいそう・・・🥺 この人たち、いつも英語の問題に論点すり替えるよね。笑 あなたたちの言い訳はもう沢山。心からの謝罪ができないのなら、しなくてOKだけど、もう二度と大谷さんには近付かないでください。二度とね！

Haters X2

Ohtani is innocent, an apology from you would be nice, but lets just get back to baseball dude.

CPA and Agent Balelo team requested Ippei to talk directly with Shohei about bank accounts. Ippei told them he talked with Shohei about bank accounts. Ippei told Shohei that CPAs have managed strictly Shohei's bank accounts.

This interpreter is a genius ! Not only did he fool Ohtani but he fooled all his accountants and the IRS when his taxes were filed ! The silence from the IRS is deafening !!!

@Rich is the typical freeloader. shame of you!

Shohei the victim and haters still blahblahing. Glad he will spend time in Hawaii probably 2024 off season. We believe in the Aloha spirit. Americans need to display more respect and Aloha like we do in Hawaii.

WTF! you making an issue again? STOP!

Rich continuing to drag Ohtani's name and reputation through the mud for views. 👎

wow he didnt log into his bank account for years LOL ippei def noticed that and exploited it

This show used to be my favorite sports network for Shohei Ohtani. It's a shame, we might never get to hear anything positive about Ohtani from this channel anymore. Shame on you Rich Eisen, Ohtani took a picture with you and your kid and this is how you repay his kindness, accusing him without concrete proofs.

Ohtanis make my brain feel good because he's very handsome 😊

*It's amazing how many people in this world are easily flim-flammed. Ohtani is either a gambler or a gullible fool. Pick one.*

So you’re saying that Ohtani camp should be held responsible? Good because his camp sounds like a bunch of amateurs I mean how does his account not say anything?

Maybe shoehei didn't see because other people were stealing simultaneously. Money just keeps moving non stop

At first he didnt steal it. Ohtani helped his friend.... 6 hrs later stories change

Money your catnip? Shocker.

The scary part for Shohei should be, what if Ippei never gambled the money?? What if he was just taking it out of his account and pocketing it? I mean, it’s damn near half of his baseball salary to date.. he might not have ever found out.. He comes off like a really good dude.. but he needs a crash course on some financial basics, English and just human dynamics it seems.. it’s hard to be a good steward of a billion dollars and not have a single clue as to ANYTHING that’s going on in your world.. I’m wishing him the best of luck moving forward.. and a whole new group of friends and associates (and I would imagine the Dodgers have more resources/competence to help him than the Angels)

What about the Angels poor hiring and recruiting skills when it comes to Ippei? His resume was fake! Angels are to blame also.

Russo, Smith, Passan, Eisen.

The dude had a bookie, but no barber

Sensationalism for views

Between morosi and passan, I don't know who is more gung ho about trashing their credibility when it comes to ohtani stories. They come across as desperate afterthoughts trying to recapture some attention and clicks.

Fourth

First

The Dodgers are cursed. We haven’t won a World Series on our own field and I don’t know how many years lol first Trevor Bauer, then Julio Urias now this.

Does the media think we're this stupid? Or that Ohtani was that stupid? What a joke.

Okay so Shohei had years without checking his account, but did his financial team file taxes for him? Because how in the world no one notices 16 million over time out of an account? I get the story that the translator turned off the notifications and all of that, but in a country where you are required to file taxes a top notch financial team didn’t find that odd? Or did Ippei filed shohei’s taxes as well? By the way, if Ippei is -41Million and without a job, who is paying for his Top Notch Attorney named Michael G. Freedman? Or he had savings and refused to pay? 😂 idk…

It’s not like no one else in the MLB speaks Japanese. I mean come on!!! When I do business abroad. Both parties have a translator. I have a translator and the people I am doing business with has a translator. This is a check to ensure what I say and what the other translator is saying is accurate. Especially with English and Japanese. Not only that, no one did a back ground check on Ippei?

To bad pete didnt have a guy talk for him

Time for Pete Rose to go to the HOF now. :)

Pete Rose biggest mistake was not having a interpreter lol 😂

LEARN ENGLISH !!!!!

Those who denied it supplied it directly applies here. He supplied the money for the gambling, so he's guilty.