# Can Ohtani get his money back from the bookmaker? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2024, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147 "2024-04-11T09:37:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/21 "2024-04-11T15:58:42Z")
Color me skeptical…not buying it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/22 "2024-04-11T15:59:33Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Color me skeptical…not buying it. Why? On what evidence or facts? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/23 "2024-04-11T16:02:02Z")
You’re not going find evidence of collusion. It’s why fraud, when there’s more than one person involved is extremely hard to detect and prove. I don’t need proof to be skeptical. And Mizuhara quickly took the fall. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/24 "2024-04-11T17:02:47Z")
What would be Mizuhara’s motive to accept being fired from his high-profile job as an interpreter, being convicted of a felony, and possibly spending time in prison, all in exchange for hiding Ohtani’s against-MLB-rules betting? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/25 "2024-04-11T17:07:36Z")
Money. I’m not saying it was Ohtani who was betting - but if he was , it’s not impossible that he would pay his interpreter in some way to take the blame. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/26 "2024-04-11T17:22:48Z")
Mizuhara reportedly earned somewhere between $300K and $500K per year before he got fired. > **[How much money did Shohei Ohtani's interpreter earn before being fired?](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shohei-ohtani-interpreter-ippei-mizuhara-fired-salary/)** > > Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for baseball's highest paid athlete, earned a hefty salary himself before being fired Wednesday. In other words, it’s not like Mizuhara was desperate for money. so if he isn’t actually the one with a gambling problem, then the payout for enduring all of that would have to be a pretty princely sum. And unless he’s got access to some kind of money laundering scheme, a large, post-prison transfer of wealth from Ohtani to Mizuhara will attract the attention of the IRS - who will start asking both of them, for starters, why the ostensible victim of a multi-million-dollar theft has now willingly transferred a similarly sized pile of wealth to the perpetrator of that theft. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/27 "2024-04-11T17:33:28Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Mizuhara’s initial account was that he was betting on behalf of Ohtani I don’t believe this part is true. If you have a cite, I would appreciate it. My understanding is that what changed between the initial story and the subsequent story was whether Ohtani voluntarily repaid Mizuhara’s gambling debts or whether the money used for payment was stolen. I don’t believe anyone has claimed that Ohtani himself made bets with the bookie. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/28 "2024-04-11T17:50:18Z")
That’s true. There were some conspiracy theories that Mizuhara was covering for Ohtani but from the principles involved, the story has always been that Mizuhara was the one gambling. The part of the story that changed was whether or not Ohtani knowingly repaid those debts or if that money was stolen. From other reports (and who can tell on these), Ohtani doesn’t really follow American sports except baseball and the bets covered a lot of other sports, which would have been odd. Mizuhara was apparently bright enough not to bet on baseball, seeing that as a red line. That’s not proof positive but the indirect evidence has, so far, pointed away from Ohtani personally taking part in gambling. To the extent he’s involved, it’s whether or not he knowingly gave the money away. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/29 "2024-04-11T20:52:42Z")
My understanding of the laws is that with **goods** illegally obtained - car, phone, jewwelry, etc. - the original owner of course never loses title. If they are found, unless there are statutes of limitation, the rightful owner can claim them back. With money, it’s the opposite. While stolen money can be retrieved rom the perp who stole, any money spent in _legitimate_ transactions (i.e. rent, food, clothing, fancy jewelry, normal goods) cannot be retrieved. If the money purchased goods that the thief is now in possession of, those can be seized instead. (Although if the person doing the transaction should have known the money was not legitimate, there could be a claim against them.) The problem is that unlike a specific car or diamond necklace, money is not a specific thing. Particularly with banks and electronic money, credit cards and cheques, money spent may not be the actual “thing” taken from the vicitm. If the thief steals a wad of cash, buys an expensive watch with a credit card, then pays the credit card with the wad of cash - should the credit card company be liable to return the money? Or the jewelry store? As for whether Ohtani or the interpreter instigated the betting - so what? It’s a he-said-he-said case absent text messages or written instructions. There is no proof. Therefore, what…? Deprive a person of a multimillion dollar income on the word of a possible thief covering his own behind? Absent that smoking gun, Ohtani presumably only gets a “we’re wtching you” warning regardless. I guess it then depends what he gets for spending several years in jail to save someone else, if that’s what he did. Any proof that he gets paid off will tank Ohtani’s career. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/30 "2024-04-11T21:01:37Z")
I was under the impression that banks generally have several layers of safeguards and procedures anytime they’re wiring a large sum of money - i.e., millions of dollars - to make sure it’s actually the person who wants to send it, doing the sending. Did they not bother this time? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/31 "2024-04-11T21:35:03Z")
If he really was also a personal assistant and handling accounts, he might have been authorized to wire money. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147/32 "2024-04-12T00:59:33Z")
From the New York Mag via Kevin Drum, emphasis in original: > According to U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, Mizuhara got ahold of Ohtani’s bank account to feed his “insatiable appetite for illegal sports gambling.” He then **blocked Ohtani’s agent, financial adviser, and accountant from being able to access the account of the baseball phenom,** who is known for paying less attention to his finances than your average multimillionaire. Bank records in the filing show that Mizuhara also changed the phone number and email on Ohtani’s account so Mizuhara could access the funds. And the Feds claim to have a recording of Mizuhara calling the bank pretending to be Ohtani to release more money to pay off his debts. > **[A quick update on Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter - Kevin Drum](https://jabberwocking.com/a-quick-update-on-shohei-ohtanis-interpreter/)** > > You remember Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter for baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani? He supposedly stole $4 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts, but I haven't really been paying attention to this since the story first broke. New York gets me... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-ohtani-get-his-money-back-from-the-bookmaker/1000147.md?page=1)