ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez Talks Shohei Ohtani/Ippei Mizuhara Scandal with Rich Eisen | Full Interview
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- čas přidán 11. 04. 2024
- ESPN MLB Reporter Alden Gonzalez and Rich Eisen discuss the circumstances that led to the Ohtani/Ippei Mizuhara theft/gambling scandal, what the next legal steps are for Mizuhara, and what lingering questions remain after prosecutors’ thorough investigation.
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ESPN should apologize to Ohtani.
Ippei MIzuhara turned out to be a mere con man.
ESPN confused people by reporting the con man's first story without directly checking with Ohtani himself, which led to the perfect storm for Ohtani.
I don't think it was proffessional work.
If Alden Gonzales takes issue with Otani's agents and accountants, they should reconsider their own reporting stance.
Indeed, but Mizuhara is the American.
Nothing to apologize for. ESPN did nothing wrong.
@@IdlewyldWhy? They should've checked on Ohtani first. They should've interviewed Ippei with Ohtani. Why didn't they do it when Ohtani's name was involved? They should at least apologize because they technically helped Ippei damaged Ohtani's name.
No, Othani is responsible for trusting his finances to an interpreter rather than to an accountant and not checking his bank balance himself. He is not a child. ESPN did nothing wrong.
@@avocado8952
Can you explain the validity of several articles without interview to Shohei?
Alden read the document three times and still has questions?. I think he needs to learn how to read and comprehend what he is reading it is all laid out how it was done why Ohtani was in the dark etc.. even Rich still is not 100% clearing Ohtani with his subtle references. You both need to apologize to Ohtani and stop the nonsense. Two "journalists" give me a break. Alden is really stupid though he want to give Ippei the benefit of the doubt even though he is doing a plea deal cause he is guilty as sin yet he stil has questions about Ohtani. Talk about dumb.
ESPN ,low level
Alden Gonzalez is neutral unlike other ESPN reporters who spoke on the media. Jeff 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. Instead, Eisen, a self-claimed Ohtani fan, used his platform to actively contribute to creating the atmosphere of suspicion. I am positively angry.
Rich, you don't need any excuse. You have spread uncertain rumors, anyway.
It seems Eisen and guest read the report (or parts of it) but didn't Comprehend it.
The bank account, which was opened by Mizuhara for Ohtani in 2018 in Arizona, was solely for MLB salary payments - which have always been Ohtani's most miniscule source of income, never even exceeding $1 million per year until 2021 (when he made $3 million, and which was the first year Mizzuhara accessed the account).
Ohtani - famously nonchallant about money - obviously thought of the account as a sort of piggy bank on the side. His main accounts, which hold his major income from endorsements, investments, etc., were Not put into the hands of Mizuhara.
It is perfectly plausible, and always has been, that Ohtani would leave this "side" savings account - which he never had any reason to even bother with - in the hands of his trusted confidant, who both he and Mizuhara have said was "like a brother."
Agreed, except, according to the criminal complaint, Ohtani believed that his agent et al had access to all of his U.S.-based accounts, including the one that Ippei stole from.
In 2021 it was $3 Million, then $5.5 Million in 2022, then $30 Million in 2023.
Ohtani is rich, and Eisen is named RICH. That's the difference.
That was fast….in one day, you went from totally believing Ohtani completely innocent…to, again, questioning how much he knew. My head is spinning 🤮
Just shame on people who tried to bully our Ohtani in any way, never forgivable.
No one has logged in to that account since 2018 -2021. The first person to log in was Mizuhara in 2021.
Ohtani thought the agent and accountants were handling all his accounts, so he had no reason to question them.
He doesn't check his account, which is no surprise because of his busy schedule and lack of interest in excessive money.
This happens if only one person handles things and no one else.
Have you guys ever tried to open a bank account in the country where you don't speak the language?
Nowadays there is Google translate smart phone app. Language is no longer a problem unless you don’t know either basic finances and basic technology.
@@avocado8952
You don't know everything.
@@avocado8952 I suggest you to go to Japan and try by yourself only using google translate.
It is not just the language. There are so many differences.
For example, I had no idea what is required to open a bank account in the US, ex. social security number, how to prove residency etc etc etc.
Btw, of course, social security number does not exist in Japan. They started to do things called My Number but only very recently.
Also, in Japan, it is your registration that is required to do anything.
No bank will accept your utility payment as the proof of residency.
Does google translate tell you at that moment?
It is nothing to do with translation of language in this case.
What he has wrong is that Ippei was not supposed to have access to the account. He just illegally made his way into it and told (lies to) Shohei’s financial advisors that Shohei wanted to keep it private.
Bank: everything goes to you ippei ? Mr Ohtani is that true ?
Ippei: the bank asked if you love baseball.
Ohtani: *YES😊*
Basically how that one went. Ohtani should hold himself semi quasi accountable for the fact that he hasn’t learned English to any extent, to at the very least give himself a chance to prevent this kind of thing. But, with that said, I would imagine his absurd amount of trust in the guy was something that stemmed from his cultural background in Japan. He probably hasn’t spent much time even considering the possibility that the guy would be as crooked as an American politician. So ya kinda feel for the guy, and at the same time it’s like, how do you plan on making your living by playing an American sport, playing in America, without knowing English? Then, accomplish your dreams, play the sport for several years in America, make a massive new contract with a second team and, you still have yet to learn enough English to even have a short, possibly broken but, still understandable conversation with anyone. That is wild to me. If I’m spending so many months of my life in another country, I’m going to have to make myself learn that language in some capacity. If for no other reason than simply for passing conversation as you randomly encounter people outside of the workplace. So you don’t just have to give them a deeply confused sideways look and try to convey the fact that you don’t have a clue what they are saying, for years. Wild story either way. Hopefully he invests in a private English tutor instead of just another interpreter next time.
@hawgwyldfishing4684
Well he has his wife to handle these things now , it's japanese custom wife holds the money . I do agree with you on improving his English... so he can talk to people/fans/media more once a week has the media very angry with him .
@@HawgWyldFishing It's reported all the set up stuff happened when he first moved here so it makes sense why he blindly trusted the guy. But idk it just seems so long to trust someone without checking in on things. He could just be one of those guys that is hyper focused on his craft and doesn't care about anything else so he was the perfect mark
@@potofgoldgaming9129 oh yes that was definitely the case I would imagine but even still. The guy has been playing here and staying here in the states for years and hasn’t learned any English. Or at least not enough to pick up on any parts of the conversations between his bank people and agents, and the interpreter. That is crazy to me. There are professional bass fishermen from Japan who fish the B.A.S.S. Elite series and initially didn’t know a word of English, who now have started to be able to at least have some degree of conversation in English. Kuyoya Fujita is one of those guys. Ohtani has the entire offseason that he could spend on at least trying to learn some English. And he’s had full length off seasons because he doesn’t know what post season baseball even is at this point. Other than knowing that it hasn’t involved his team so far in his career. lol
Both of you guys are right , but I think Ohtani will continue this way with the support of dodgers management ( to protect their biggest money maker like a baby just do your best to play baseball leave the rest to us ) and management don't care what fans think unless they lose badly ( which won't happen with this team and the gangster way of dealing with the first homerun fan that's 100,000 dollars gone )
It's not a scandal. Stop.
If I were Ohtani, I'd lawyer up and sue ESPN to the tune of $16 million lol
Let's move on to your defamation. Otani's sponsorship income exceeds his annual salary. If you apologize, you will be forgiven.
If you read the 37-page report of the investigating authorities, you would know what is true. You only see things according to your own values, which leads to assumptions and prejudice. Do you realize how much damage you have done to Otani with that? Apologize! To Shohei.
Media, the bank, the accountant, the financial manager ------------ useless crap.
People doubted Ohtani should be ashamed of themselves. Most Japanese people knew he was innocent. He’s not interested in money or gambling. He was happy with $1,000 a month allowance from his mom in Japan when he was already making millions.
Sho understood more than half of Ippei speech in the club house so he had ask another interpreter what exactly going on because Ippei didn’t say it in Japanese and told him to wait until they go back to their hotel.
Ohtani should be ashamed of himself! He allowed $16 million to be stolen from him, and he had no clue! Very irresponsible. Shameful behavior.
@@IdlewyldYou don't blame the criminal but the victim? What kind of a person are you lol
@@Idlewyld Hi Ippei) see you in Jail
@@groworchids The nonsensical part, is that a man who has been here for 6 years only knows half of the English that he heard in that clubhouse. Utterly disrespectful. Can't carve out an hour a day with a language specialist, to bring him up to fluency. Disgraceful. You have to know the language of the country that you live in, so things like this don't happen to you.
Most of the English speaking people who moved to Japan as adults, can have poor Japanese, especially writing and reading, but also speaking and listening after several years. Also Ohtani has been concentrated in improving his baseball skill all his life.
By "technically" Mizuhara meant the use of online banking to transfer the money. Mizuhara basically has had the access "right" to the accounts. It was not just theft of money from somebody's room or purse.
Reading through all of this, I realized one thing anyone at ESPN or general American public don't seem to realize is Japanese people has a different social dynamic that seems to be forgotten. Ohtani clearly HAD a lot of trust in Mizuhara to the point where Ohtani didn't second guess or ask anything (that we know of).
Yet, ESPN or public in general who seem to have questions, still keep asking the same thing, "How did this happen?"
Do me a favor, go live in Japan for 10 years then you will get your answer to that question.
Oh,Oh, I want to answer this one!!!!! I lived for five years in Osaka. I took care of my own banking and used apps to solve almost all my problems with virtually no fluency in Japanese. Ohtani seems like a smart guy, so his COMPLETE inability to function and total faith in one guy to handle a bank account is hard to understand for me and most Americans. The reason many Americans are skeptical is that Ohtani was with this guy for YEARS and almost always side-by-side. So to ask HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? is a reasonable question as we know Japan people are often trustworthy and mindful of others. The plausible explanation for me (and many) was that Ippei got in trouble... and then Ohtani agreed to bail him out. Only later it was discovered that the money transferred was to an illegal booking, causing Ohtani's people to backtrack. That would make total sense. It would fit the Japan narrative that the highly focused Ohtani wanted to help his friend. The fact that MILLIONS were spent without Ohtani knowing is a much harder explanation to grasp from an American or Japanese perspective.
@@paultuke5110🙄🙄
It is the most arrogant thing in the world to tell Americans how it is done in Japan when the man LIVES IN AMERICA. HE PLAYS IN AMERICA. It is inexcusable in America, to know little to no English after 6 freaking years. If he wasn't ignorant of the language, he would not have been "swindled" if that is even the case.
@@paultuke5110Five whole years in Osaka, eh? 🤡 Wow. Cultural stereotypes aside, were you making tens of millions of dollars per year, with multiple accounts and streams of income, and represented by an agent who's job is to manage your professional and financial well-being? Also, read the criminal complaint, dude.
@@PGO_Gaming Don't try to convince these blindly loyal Japanese Ohtani fans. They totally lack the critical thinking skills to see how commentators would be skeptical of this for the past three weeks. I like Ohtani. He's fun to watch. Now I hope he fails just to shut up these annoying fans in Japan.
APOLOGIZE TO OHTANI
Hey you still don't know how many bank accounts Ohtani has. Mizuhara was able to control one account in order to use for his own purpose. Ohtani has other accounts, for daily checking, for charity purpose, and maybe for savings
The account Mizuhara abused was the account for salary direct deposit.
The report said ohtani believed mizhuhara had access to all of his us based accounts
@@greghouse1234 So what? Mizuhara is not supid, knowing which account is the most "usable" for him, not letting Ohtani notice. First time Ohtani opened the account, it was for salary deposit, from which, Mizuhara transferred some to Ohtani's personal checking, another some to savings account, another some to Charity account, etc. In short, Mizuhara took all the controls over Ohtani's accounts.
Alden pretends to be a thorough investigative journalist and "still have questions", when his network failed to do basic due diligence while they had the chance
It's called "bad journalism" as Trump once said "FAKE NEWS" When a reporter couldn't do their homework through research and facts instead of jumping into a conclusion by speculation. Tisha Thompson is about to lose her job real soon.
They are not private investigators they are journalists. You are angry at the fact that Othani was either with Ippei or extremely irresponsible and naive with his money so you have to blame the journalist.
@@avocado8952 I don't know what you are talking about. I'm referring to ESPN's original report, which relied on Ippei's unverified account to explain why and how transfers were made from Ohtani's bank account. If ESPN had done their due diligence, they would've asked basic questions to Ohtani's spokesperson like, "Is Ohtani aware that Ippei is doing the interview with ESPN?", "How did Ohtani's spokesperson come to learn that Ohtani allegedly decided to pay off Ippei's debt?", or "Is there another translator that has been helping communicate with Ohtani?"
Ohtani's spokesperson obviously blundered in trusting Ippei as well, but ESPN's willingness to simply publish whatever info was provided by Ippei as the de facto explanation of the situation showed poor journalistic judgment.
shame on you rich!
For being skeptical? You Ohtani lovers are embarrassing and don't know what a talk show is.
@@paultuke5110 It's not your problem.😊
A P O L O G I Z E
MLB teams with Japanese players (and young American players for that matter) need to safeguard them from crooked handlers and financial fraud scams. Contract terms should require compensation to be deposited in accounts reviewed by reputable auditors and expert fund managers who are fluent in both Japanese and English. A few simple safeguards would have prevented the Ohtani debacle. MLB teams cannot leave players with multi-million dollar contracts to fend for themselves and trust bankers / personal managers to be honest. Clearly they are not.
Alden you are a joke. Read the 37 pages.
The numbers aren’t hard to “add up.” The $24M deficit is the bookie’s loss. He gave Mizuhara a massive line of credit thinking Ohtani was backing him. It’s the bookie’s loss.
Do you know?
When Ohtani ARRAIVED in the US, he couldn't understand English.
NOT NOW.
08:40 seconds is what Rich has ignored since the day the news first broke and now he’s asking about it LOL😂😂😂😂😂
It’s not about language comprehension. He clearly didn’t run his own finances or even look at his accounts.
Are you being sarcastic? If the man knew a lick of English in his SIX YEARS of being in America, then many of the conversations that apparently "went over his head" wouldn't have, and he wouldn't have been swindled. His ignorance is inexcusable.
If you owe the bank 100,000 the bank owns you, if you owe the bank 100M you own the bank. Simple as that. The bookie clearly got caught up in greed and self interest like Ippei did.
Only remember that Mizuhara Ippei was never working for the player Ohtani. He was paid by a MLB Club (or 2). Why is MLB not at fault for failing to vet the EMPLOYEE?
Incorrect. The Angels paid Mizuhara ~$85,000/yr as an interpreter, but Ohtani paid him much, much more (including providing hotel rooms for Ippei and his wife, who is another victim in all of this) to act as his manager/personal assistant. So it was theft on top of an extremely generous salary directly from Ohtani, plus the salary he earned from the Angels.
The MLB had nothing to do with Ohtani giving Ippei unrestricted access to his personal account.
Won $140mil & lost $180mil...WTF!🤯
Few years ago, Ohtani said, he would love to learn English but he rather use his time to sleep or training. And what non Japanese people don’t get is that all he wants is food, regular house, family and lots of time to play baseball!! Now he has to buy nice house in a safe neighborhood for his new wife, but he doesn’t have to, he and his wife don’t care about money at all. I’m afraid after this scandal, he will donate all his money😂since all he wants is the big win this year!
I hope this made him want to learn English well enough so no one can take advantage of him like this again.
I don’t understand Alden. Why would the financial advisors and agents be checking up on Shohei’s personal account? What business is it of theirs? So I don’t see how this is “wild.”
Sarcasm?
@@paultuke5110 It has to be.
Per the criminal complaint, Ohtani believed all of his U.S. based accounts were being monitored by his agent and the financial team.
@@arsmor1end1 Two questions. 1)How would they know what Ohtani believed in anything, if you had to go through Ippei to get to Ohtani? 2)If what you posted is true, why hasn't his agent and his financial team been summarily fired in public for their incompetence.
Alden is not too bright
Stop making good reasons for being fooled by Mizuhara's fiction.
maybe "technically i did steal from him, but I meant to just borrow it"
I'm waiting for comedians to comment on all of this. Should be fun! o
upvote for midnight run reference
Does anyone know who the bookie is?
No, it's a deep secret if you don't know how to read
This interpreter is a genius ! Not only did he steal money from his best friend he hid the income from the IRS, The banks and the accountants ! Can you imagine all those 1099 forms he had to hide from everybody when he won over $600 !
If I am missing $16 then I will go crazy, wish I made millions. Poor Ohtani, his fault is to be too trusting and naive and became a victim.
Ohtani signed a 10 year $ 700 million contract with the LA Dodgers. He deferred $ 680 million of it. Does that indicate Ohtani was aware of his friend's addiction and wanted to keep his Dodger money away from him? Ohtani is from Japan. A strategic partner in the Pacific of the US. Does the US want to go after the most popular Athlete in Japan? Of course only speculation. But the deferred money is troubling.
👀👀👀
One thing we know for sure from this. Ohtanis interpreter will never make it into the MLB Hall of Fame. He will be resided to the same room that they keep Barry Bonds in.
This is nothing compared to the amount of evidence against DJT at Mar-a-Lago lol. Wait until ppl actually real that complaint lol 😬😬😬
6 years! 6Years! No one didn't cheack Ohtani's account! No way!!!
I guess we should start a GoFundMe campaign for Ohtani. He's probably had to resort to food banks to sustain himself.
so sorry for khloe kardashian for the loss of her beloved father 💔
I’m still cynical
Anyone heard of "burner" phones? Shohei is in on it. No way this is a one man operation.
Take the tin foil hat off bro
Ohtani fans seems to only be happy if the media just blindly trusted him and his side of a very very strange story, based only only the fact that "he seems like such a great guy". Truly embarrassing tbh. They don't apply the same standard to any other athlete or situation, just with their idol.
These blindly loyal fans are either extremely ignorant or part of Ohtani’s online crisis troll farm. Laughable.
Wait, the "official story" is that an interpreter who was being paid how much a year was able to win $180 million dollars, and lost $140 million dollars? Yeah, that sounds legit....
You have that backwards, he won $140 million and lost $180 million. He was down $40 million.
It’s not the official story, it’s the result of an investigation done by the fbi, homeland security, IRS, and the US Attorneys office. So you think our federal government agencies are all in cahoots with the Dodgers and Shohei to cover Shohei ? For what exactly ? They’re all willing to put their entire reputation on the line for some foreign ball player ? That angle seems more plausible to you ? Lmao
Easy....people around here get offended if you don't immediately accept the story we are being told. They may even call you a hater.
@@vmark78because they have all the evidence show ohtani is a victim. That’s why you being called a hater
@vmark78 Tell me what you think, back it up with evidence and I'll believe you.
1.- The MLB version, about Othani getting ripped off 16 million, without noticing... children fairy tale. - - - - - 2.- Othani, was either gambing, or was involved in some kind of illegal operation.- - - - 3.- Othani, should be suspended from MLB, lifetime. - - - - - 4.- If Shoei Othani, remains in baseball, and doesnt get penalized... then Pete Rose should be immediately inducted into baseball hall of fame, ASAP.
There's more to this story. Numbers don't add up and the story is still murky at best. Eisen's "allegedly" says a lot. Forever, people will doubt Ohtani. Unfortunate but true.
Ohtani needs to fire all his accountants....bankers...business manager because they failed him miserably.
Idk if you read the court papers . It seems pretty straight forward . Answers everything . What else is left that you’re wondering about ?
I think the way Ohtani handled the situation brought more eyes to him and the baseball. There are always haters but people are now encouraged to root for him even more.
Ippei’s lawyer just issued a statement Ippei wants to apologize to Ohtani, the dodgers, MLB and his family.
Some haters are still hoping for ohtani’s involvement but for people with the right minds understand that those frauds would never let their victims know the reason why they are stealing from them. It’s very clear that Ohtani is a victim here.
Some of those investigators, the bank officials and tech analysts etc care less about Ohtani or MlB and are just doing their jobs. If they can’t find anything fishy from Ohtani, that means Ohtani has nothing to hide.
Sure,if you choose to live life believing in every conspiracy theory nothing will suffice. I’m guessing you didn’t read the report.
tin foil time
This all still stinks. Don't buy it, not hard to use code or just speak about it in person. NONE of this makes sense that an interpreter would trump his legal, financial team etc.....don't buy any of it
ditto!
Ohtani knows English. How gullible are you people? The interpreter is being the fall guy.
Shohei Ohtani is the "village idiot" or the degenerate gambler. Pick one guys. Ignorance is not an excuse for not being held accountable. Being in this country six years and not knowing a lick of English or enough to carry a conversation is inexcusable. Putting your financial affairs in the hands of someone else with no oversight is inexcusable. His plight is his own fault. He's not a victim. He was complicit in his own stupidity, if you believe the idiot part. I lean on the latter. I believe he gambled through Ippei and that Ippei would always be the fall guy if this was exposed. That is logical and it makes sense. So it is probably true.
You don’t understand Japanese culture, or trying to be hyper focus on doing something never done before, being the 1% of the 1% requires more focus than anything you can imagine. Where does he have the time to be gambling, or even know the sports he gambling. Look at his training in Japan where he is sleeping in dormitory with teammates as a professional. In addition, people don’t commit crimes in Japan like they do it the states,
@@charlesdn123 Where in your diatribe do you address the fact that he has been here 6 years and cannot carry a conversation in English? Where in your diatribe addresses the fact that he is playing in America, not Japan? His culture is of no consequence here. When in Rome…. Like I stated before, ignorance is no excuse for buffoonery. If I were living in Japan, it would behoove me to LEARN JAPANESE, so that I am not taken advantage of for my ignorance of the language. That is why he was swindled, if you believe that story. Had he known English, and immersed himself in AMERICAN culture, he would not have been out $16 million dollars.
Many politicians and financial experts invested in Theranos. They have way more lawyers, accountants and advisors. My common sense tells me there's no way nobody fact checked Theranos but it happened. It is totally fine to question and speculate; however, it is a different story when people treat their speculations as facts.
@@PGO_Gaming Billy Joel's manager stole 30 mil from him. Kevin Garnett got 77 mil stolen from him. Maybe their English isn't that good or they don't know the American culture that well.
@@neilwang1924 Apples and oranges comparing Ohtani’s situation to investors.