Introducing 'The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani'

Olen Shannon Maldonado, käsintehtyjä artesaanitua teitä myyvän jauiilahjakaupan perustaja. Valitisin Shopify, koska alustoja testa testani totesin sen ehdottomasti yhdeksi helpokäyttöisimmistä alustoista. Minulla oli tärkeää pohtia kehittymistämme tulevaisuudessa. Kaikki myyntiin tarvittavat työkalut, kuten varaston suunnittelu ovat kätevästi dashboardissä. Aloita ilmainen kokeilu Shopify piste komsi vustolla. Hey 2020-lessänsä, Today we've got something special for you from our colleagues at ESPN and 30 for 30. It's the first two episodes of a striking new crime series called the betrayal of Shoheotani. What happens when the person you trust most betrays you? That's the question at the heart of this new series. Japanese baseball superstar Shoheotani and his interpreter Ipea Mizohara, were one of the most famous bromances in professional sports. They were seen together nearly all the time, label the best friends, until it all fell apart. Because of 19,000 bets, 17 million stolen and the wild world of sports gambling. It's a story you might have heard about, but it turns out what was reported in the news was just the beginning. Today we're bringing you episodes one and two of this six episode season. If you want to listen to the rest, search 30 for 30 podcasts or the betrayal of Shoheotani wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for listening. It's November 2024 and the Los Angeles Stages are in their home stadium celebrating their World Series win. The players line up on the podium. Team manager Dave Roberts takes the mic and introduces some of the stars. And then he calls out the name everyone's waiting for. Shoheotani just finished his first season with the Dodgers. He's a head taller than a lot of his teammates and he's wearing a t-shirt and backwards ball cap when he gives a shy grin as he takes the mic. This is one of the first times that Shoheotani has spoken publicly in English without an interpreter. To be part of a scene. That's all he says and the crowd absolutely loves it. By any measure, Shoheotani's first season with the Dodgers was extraordinary. Many believe he could become the best baseball player of all time. It's really not hyperbole guys to say that Shoheotani is the new Babe Ruth. Oh, Shoheotani just finished his first season with the Dodgers. It's the kind of success that helps overshadow what happened just months before at the start of this season when Shoheotani was caught up in a scandal that could have ended it all. The scandal as the potential to be one of the biggest sports scandals we've ever seen, certainly one of the biggest baseball scandals that we've ever seen. Our team at ESPN broke the story. It tied the money of one of the highest paid players in baseball history to a vast illegal sports betting operation. But when it was over, he would walk away, and someone else, someone close to him, would confess to a shocking crime disappearing in disgrace. Shoheotani! And in this moment, at the World Series celebration, you could almost forget it ever happened. But two years later, I still have so many questions. So I'm going to travel the country, chase down leads, and try to understand how one of sports' most complicated friendships detonated into one of the biggest scandals in baseball history. I'm ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson from 30 for 30 podcasts. This is The Betrayal of Shoheotani, episode 1, The Letter O. Today I want to tell you about an exciting new deal from our friends at CozyEarth. Take a moment and close your eyes, and think back to the best night of sleep you ever had. Did it feel like you'd never sleep that well again? Well, good news. You can give yourself an amazing night of sleep every night by upgrading your betting to CozyEarth. CozyEarth offers luxury betting at an incredible price. 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It's dark, intense, and might just keep you up all night. I'm Hannah, I'm Seruti, and every week on red handed we break down a different fascinating case. From the most recent US trials everyone is obsessing over, like Brendan Banfield, Karen Reed and Ellen Greenberg. To the most unbelievable stories from around the world, there's nothing we love more than digging into every detail of the cases we cover. Getting beyond a basic analysis and cutting to the heart of the story. Red handed has over 400 episodes ready to binge right now. Plus, be sure to check out our weekly sister show, Shorthand, where we unpack everything from the Black Death to Area 51. If you're looking for smart, detailed true crime with personality, check out Red handed, wherever you get your podcasts. Red handed has over 300 episodes ready to binge right now. It's been a couple of weeks since the beginning of the show. I started working on this story a year before Shohei won that World Series. When a source sent me a tip. At first, the tip seemed to have nothing to do with baseball or any sport. It was information from a federal court document still under seal. A list of items that had been seized from a house in California. It included the kinds of things you might expect from a federal raid. Computers, hard drives, and cell phones. But there were also $40,000 brightling watches. Handbags from Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and casino chips. Lots and lots of casino chips. Why were the feds interested in it? Because all of these things were taken from a house owned by a man named Matt Boyer. The feds also seized a cash counting machine, sports betting records, and receipts for offshore bank wires. And that's when I say to myself, "I think Matt Boyer is a bookie. A person who takes bets pays them out when they win and collects when they lose. My source confirms it. Matt Boyer is a bookie. But he isn't just any bookie. According to my source, his clients include celebrities, millionaires, and seemingly one of the most famous athletes in the world. When my source tells me the name of that athlete, it's a name so big, so shocking that all I write down is the letter O. You tell me the name of the athlete involved, and that the feds are involved in an investigation. And that is why we have to be so careful. This is my editor, Elaine Tang. We were really worried about putting a rumor out there that then comes back to us as fact. We have to be really careful about going out and saying like, "Hey, do you think is Shohei Otoni gambling with a bookie?" This tip was so potentially damning. We needed to tread really carefully, because it could turn into a very grown-up version of that kid's game, telephone, where someone whispers something to someone, and then they whisper it to someone else, and by the time it comes back to you, it's totally different from what you said. I couldn't just ask sources questions like, "Hey, does Shohei gamble?" Even if the answer was no, they might tell someone else in the clubhouse that ESPN was asking if Shohei gambled. Then that person says to someone else, "Hey, I heard Shohei gambles. By the time I call several someone's later, that person then says to me, "Oh, yeah, I have heard he gambles. All I have done is confirm a rumor that I started a rumor about Shohei Otoni paying millions of dollars to any legal bookie." I think it was the amount of money involved, as well as the caliber of the athlete that feels really loaded and, you know, extremely damaging, if true, right, to the athlete, their reputation, their career. It's a very serious allegation. I want to learn everything I can about what someone could get themselves into betting with a bookie, so I head to the sports betting epicenter of the country. "We are in Las Vegas, baby." I'm in Las Vegas to meet with the reporter I think knows more about bookies and sports betting than anyone else in the business. "What do you think the biggest money maker is for the casino?" "Henny's life." "That's correct." "This is ESPN's David Perdom. I met him in a casino just off the Vegas strip. He sit down in a room near the sports book, watching, as people play speds. "Did they put the sports book in the back on purpose?" "I wanted to talk to Perdom about the tip I received, because he has a massive roll of decks of sources in the sports betting world. Had you ever heard of Matt Boyer before?" "I had not. I had never heard of him." "We gave you Matt Boyer's name, and you called sources." You do the David Perdom magic, and disappear for 12 hours, and came back with info. "Right. You usually go to, you start with your guys that you know have had this, and when they didn't know, I had to expand, and I did, and found some people that knew of him, and then when we found out that he was coming to Vegas with a lot of talk to people here, and they knew of him." A source warned Perdom that Boyer was connected to a man with a dangerous reputation. A guy named Owen Hansen, a former USC football player who became known as the Kochame QB. When I got the original tip, Hansen was in prison for bookmaking and drug trafficking, and was rumored to have ties to the cartel. "We had a source who was involved with running money for that group, and he was telling us to be careful, right? Because Owen Hansen was not known as a good person, he was known as a violent person, around the bedding community, and when we were ties to Boyer, there was concern." Over the next few weeks, we gathered more sources, and confirmed Boyer was running a huge sports book operation in Southern California. "Is California more prolific with bookies than other parts of the world?" Sports betting is now legal in 39 states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Depending on where you live, you can place bets through a state license app, a website, or in a casino or a bar in those states. But unless you're betting on a horse race, sports betting in California is illegal. There is no legal way to place a sports bet there, not on drive kings, not on fandule, not in the tribal casinos. So if you live in California and you want to bet on sports, you either have to go somewhere like Vegas or find a bookie, which is, of course, illegal. But there are many reasons why someone might want to use a bookie, even if the state they live in has legal sports betting. Curtin says, "A big reason is credit. People want a bet on credit. You don't want to give over your cash. If you can bet on credit, huge advantage. I can just place my bet for $100 and my money never changes hands. You go down a thousand bucks. The guy says, "Okay, let's meet up at the waffle house." And you go there and you pass over an envelope, and that's how it's done. Another reason someone might seek out a bookie is anonymity. If you are an athlete betting with the draft kings, there's a chance that we could find it. But if you can be betting with this illegal sports book over here, I would not be able to know it. So Curtin says a celebrity who wants to bet discreetly might use a bookie. When I told him that Shohei O'Connie was the athlete, my source told me might be involved with Matt Boyer. I was stunned. I remember when you relayed the message to who the athlete was. I was like, "Oh my gosh, I believe I cursed." Why is sports betting such a sensitive topic for Major League Baseball? Well, you start with the Black Sox way back at the beginning of the century. The Chicago White Sox, several players of them got engaged with some criminals, and they allegedly agreed to throw a world series. Major League Baseball banned eight players from the Chicago White Sox for life. And after that scandal, the league created a set of rules about betting on sports. It forbids players, coaches and staff from using a bookie, and you may never bet on baseball. And so that was the big one. The next time you get some sort of betting scandals, P-Rose. All-time hits leader, he was eventually admitted to betting on the game of baseball. I was wrong, I just stupid worst thing I ever did in my life. In 1989, MLB punished P-Rose with a lifetime ban for betting on baseball. P-Rose was one of the greatest ball players of his generation. He holds records that have never been broken. But all of his feats on the field have been overshadowed by what he did off the field. Could Shohei Otani, the greatest player of his generation, be the next P-Rose? If they were to have found out that he was betting on baseball, you would have been banned for life. And this is your biggest star, banned for life. Part of what made the allegation so shocking was how Shohei Otani had a reputation for being squeaky clean. Before this, there's never been a whisper of a scandal attached to his name, which makes it all the more surprising to hear allegations that he might be tied to a bookie with dangerous functions. But we realized we don't actually know all that much about Shohei's life outside of baseball. He is the most guarded and protected athlete that I think I've ever been around. This is ESPN's Tim Cuen. Tim specializes in writing profiles of the most famous and oftentimes controversial names in sports. People like Barry Bonds, Aaron Rogers, Floyd Mayweather Jr. Tim says he's been trying to decipher the enigma that is Shohei Otani ever since he first arrived here in the United States. When he came here, I first started observing him, knowing that I was going to have to observe him to write about him rather than talk to him because it was established early on that it was a dead end. He will only take questions about the game and very few, three, maybe four in each language, and these are in like bit questions. I want to know, like you just threw 117 pitches, are you, what do you feel today? And he would not, he just doesn't entertain those, he just not built that way. Tim says most of what you know about Shohei is limited to what Shohei is willing to tell you. And it rarely leaves the realm of the ballpark. And when it does, it's on Shohei's terms. Like when he got married, people didn't even know Shohei was in a relationship until he posted about his wife on Instagram. He has lots of titles, MVP, gazillionaire, superstar, but husband had alluded them until now and he made the announcement where else, but on social media that reads, not only have, I began a new chapter in my career with the Dodgers, but I also have begun a new life with someone from my native country of Japan who was very special to me and I wanted everyone to know I am now married. Shohei's teammates and even Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't know about it. I think there is this sort of the aura, right? Like just leave him alone to do what he does because the distractions are not something he's interested in. He's not interested in talking to me, to be honest. He does it as an obligation after he pitches, he hits two home runs in a game, he'll stand there and answer questions. in the most anodyne way possible. Are you nervous at all playing in the postseason for the first time? I'm not supposed to. Nope. But the league, the teams and the fans don't seem to mind not knowing much about show his life off the field because what's happening on the field is record breaking. He's really challenged our idea of limits because he has shown his talent to be limitless. He does the two things that excite baseball people more than anything else. Well, Tony Diaz, that's a cold strike three. He can throw a baseball over 100 miles an hour and he can hit a ball 500 feet. Fuck it over the roof! It's like the two headline acts of baseball. He is among the best in the world at both, if not the best. He gets it. There goes O' Tony. It's a lead off home run after he struck out three at the top of the first. He is a dream for Major League Baseball. And the Dodgers rewarded him in the fall of 2023 with a record breaking contract. It is the announcement that took the baseball world by storm today. $700 million over 10 years. Oh, my goodness! Come on! One of the league's premier franchises made a historic bet on Shohei because they knew his success would be their success. They stood to make a lot of money, too. Ticket sales, merchandise, partnerships, Shohei's success could pay off big time for the Dodgers and MLB. Shohei himself makes more than $125 million in endorsements a year with much of that money coming from advertisements in Japan. When I was there, I was shocked by you could literally not walk more than two blocks in Tokyo without seeing his face on something, whether it was a green tea or a water sports drink or Hugo Boss or something. I mean, everywhere is O' Tony. After touching down in Tokyo, it's easy to see O' Tony Mania is really a thing. Everyone in Japan is by default a Shohei fan. The appetite for O' Tony, the love for O' Tony, appears to be as limitless as his talent. If Shohei's reputation takes a hit, it wouldn't just tarnish his name. It would have devastating consequences for the Dodgers, for Major League Baseball and for Japan. When you were first told that O' Tony might be involved in some kind of betting scandal, what was your initial reaction? Shock, shock combined with sort of a reassessment of everything I had seen leading up to that, plus another layer of, like, who knows? I'd been investigating this tip for two months when in January 2024, a source tells me to look at a different player who may be a critical link. David Fletcher was an infielder for the Los Angeles Angels. He and Shohei played together for six seasons, and Tim tells me it was widely known that they were friends. They played bumper pull together and they played clash of clans and was just this sort of, you know, buddy comedy, this little white guy and this big Japanese guy, buddy and around. Fletcher's social media shows he is an avid poker player. I don't think he broadcast it, but I don't think he hit it. And his love of poker would end up being vital to our investigation. When I call him in January, Fletcher admits to me he knows Matt Boyer. They had golfed together, but he wouldn't call them friends. Fletcher tells me he heard that Boyer might be a bookie, but he insists he's never bet with Boyer. Worried about spreading a rumor, I don't ask if Boyer is show his bookie. I don't ask anything about Shohei. By this point, I've developed more sources, and I learned there is a paper trail that connects Shohei Otani to Matt Boyer. And I've tracked down a source who has that proof, but they're nervous and it takes weeks before the source agrees to show it to me and they're not gonna make it easy. It's the middle of the night. I'm driving to meet my contact. I find them standing outside of a car and a parking lot waiting for me. I drop into the passenger seat. The contact hands me a cell phone and tells me the proof I want will appear on an encrypted app and each image will disappear in 30 seconds. I can't take pictures, but I can take notes. I pull out my notebook and I tell my contact. I'm ready. A document appears on the screen September 14th, 2023, $500,000. I spot the word loan and scribble it down in my notebook, but I don't have time to ask questions because the second document appears October 2nd, 2023, $500,000. Both documents include the same long list and numbers on the screen. Later, after I drive away, I will stare at the jumble of letters and numbers as scribbled into my notebook and I'll realize it's routing information. I just saw wire transfers from a bank account at Bank of America and there's a name attached to the account, Shohei Otani. According to the screenshots I just saw, Shohei Otani's bank account sent wire transfers to Matt Boyer's illegal bookmaking operation. I saw two of them totaling a million dollars. I've got it, the direct link between Shohei and the bookie's operation. But before I can even begin to wrap my head around what I've seen, a source reaches out with new information and a new name. Interpreter Ipe Mizuhara. Ipe Mizuhara. Shohei's interpreter for the past six years. The source tells me, Ipe is prepared to say he was the one gambling and that Shohei was paying his debts. Welcome to the Redish Shana. - The effects is a HS13. - What do you sense? - A hard turn of our day. - The global phenomenon returns. - Something wicked this way comes. - You all got to unite! - How drink to that? - If you're gonna rise up and rule the world, you better get yourself a damn sense of humor. - FX is a HS13, premieres September 24th on FX and Hulu. - A new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside a case that has captivated the nation. - So many people, Luigi Mangione, is a modern day Robin Hood. - People were cheering the demise of this person they'd never met. It was a father of two and a husband and had a life and was just doing a job. - From the manhunt, ending in a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, to what authorities are saying about a possible motive. I'm ABC News legal analyst, Brian Buckmeyer. - Listen to Burn in a Proof, Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts. - In a sunny Californian suburb, one family's home is unusually quiet. - When detectives walked into that house, they said that it was like time just stood still. - It's 2010 and the McStay family is nowhere to be found. Inside the home, no clear answer where the family could've gone. - Husband, wife and two children, gone, like puff disappeared. - The search for the McStays quickly captures the nation. But for years, the search for answers only brings more questions. - Who's ever heard of an entire family going missing? - A family of four doesn't just drop off the face of the earth. - Is this a family on the run? Or is the truth far more sinister? For maybe see audio in 2020, this is what happened to the McStays. Follow what happened to the McStays for weekly episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Or if you can't wait, the entire series is streaming now, add free for subscribers to 2022 Crime Plus. Find 2022 Crime Plus on Apple Podcast to start your free trial today. (upbeat music) - If there's someone we know even less about than Shohe Otani, it's Epe Mizohara, Shohe's interpreter. His biography provided by the Los Angeles Angels says Epe was born in Japan, but grew up in Southern California. Before he joined the Angels, Epe worked in Japan for the Nippon Ham Fighters baseball team as an interpreter for American players. And that's where he met Shohe. And when Shohe signed with the Angels in December of 2017, he brought Epe along with him as his interpreter. - I wanna talk about not why I joined the Angels, but I want you guys to see me just with the team throughout the spring training. And maybe I think you guys will be find out why I chose the Angels. That was the right choice. - Ever since they arrived in the states, Shohe and Epe are always together with Epe seemingly just a few steps behind Shohe at all times. And Epe does a lot more than just translate. Epe carries Shohe's gear. When Shohe needs a ride, Epe drives him. When Shohe warms up for a game, he doesn't use a pitching coach. He throws to Epe. When Shohe competed in the 2021 MLB Home Run Derby, he chose Epe to be his catcher. What a fun moment that's going to be for him. And hopefully he's not having to catch too much. They walk red carpets together, teammates and others have even wondered if the two men live together, but they've never confirmed it. Your day in life would show, hey, I mean, what do you guys do throughout the day before you even get here through the ballpark? Um, what are you broke for every day at the hotel on the road, if not at home, then it's pretty much it. It got to the point where, you know, I wondered, how could you spend that much time with one person? When my colleague Tim Cuehn began to watch Shohei and Epe off the field, it was clear to him that Epe was different from other interpreters. To call him an interpreter is almost laughable because that was almost the least important part of his job. And the routine was always the same where Shohei would walk out onto the field and Epe was like two and a half to three steps behind. It was like a almost felt like a choreographed thing the way they went about it. The only time that Shohei seemed to be by himself at least at the baseball field was when he was in the batter's box or on the mound. They appear to be extremely close. There was no Epe without Shohei. It manifested itself in me by like going to players and saying, does it ever occur to you that these guys get sick of each other? The source told me they thought Epe might be taking the fall for Shohei, but I didn't know what to think. The walls were so thick and so impenetrable that I mean anything seemed possible, right? We didn't quite know what to make of the Epe connection. My editor Elaine and I spent weeks investigating the possibilities. Whether it was him himself, whether he was a cover for Otani, whether he was making the bets on Otani's behalf, we didn't know if it was a cover-up. We didn't know the truth. But there are two people who we thought would know the truth. Shohei Otani, an Epe Mizzahara. By March 2024, I've been working on this for five months and we've collected enough information to go to Shohei's agent. In an email, I tell him, I have sources who have told us about Shohei Otani's involvement with Matt Boyer. I purposefully don't tell him that I know Matt Boyer is a bookie or that I've heard Epe's name. I want to see what their response will be. Two hours later, I get a call from a publicist named Matt Hiltzick. He tells me he specializes in what's called crisis communication and Shohei's agent has just brought him on to represent Shohei. Some of Hiltzick's clients have included Hillary Clinton and Ivanka Trump, Brad Pitt, Alec Baldwin and Johnny Depp. When I tell him about the wire transfers that I saw, Hiltzick says he needs to call me back. As I wait, I wonder, will they try to deny it? Will they threaten us with defamation? Or will they admit it? My phone rings again a few hours later. Matt Hiltzick says you're going to get a really good fucking story. You're going to get the truth about what happened. And then he confirms it. It's true. Shohei's bank account wired millions of dollars to Boyer's operation. But he tells me someone else did the bets. Shohei was covering for someone else, he says, someone important to his life. I tell him I have sources that tell me it's Epe. He says, you have good sources. I tell him I want to interview Shohei Otani. He says maybe I have to see, but I can give you someone else. I may pay me Zahara and you do have permission to record me. Next, on the betrayal of Shohei Otani. Economists and betters talk about something called the Black Swan. In a event or a series of events that's so rare, so unpredictable, no one would bet on it happening. March 19th, 2024 was my black swan. Because the story we had been working on for five months would suddenly change over the next 24 hours, twisting and turning in ways I could never have expected. And for reasons I'm still trying to understand. I had seen wire transfers that showed a bank account and Shohei Otani's name had wired millions to an illegal bookmaking operation. And Shohei spoke's person confirmed it. But he told me that Shohei wasn't the one gambling. He says it was his interpreter, Epe, Zahara. Shohei was just paying off Epe's debts. And now Shohei's team has offered me an interview with someone they said would clear this all up. All right, I am this is Tisha Thompson, I am recording this call. Go ahead and tell me who you are and do I have permission to record you. I'll just, mom, I'm Epe and Zahara and you do have permission to record me. I've never talked to Epe before, but I instantly recognize his voice. It's the voice of Shohei Otani. Whenever Shohei talks to reporters in Japanese, it's Epe who translates his words into English. I've been warned by ESPN's baseball reporters that Epe doesn't say much. I'm not sure he'll give me anything more than a prepared statement. And I don't know how much time I'll get with him. But I've been investigating this story for five months and I have a lot of questions about how Shohei and his money got tied up in all of this. What Epe's role was and I wonder if what Epe tells me will hold up to my line of questioning. I reach Epe in South Korea. He's in Seoul with the Los Angeles Dodgers who are set to play the San Diego Padres in just a few hours. It's the opening game of the MLB season. Alright Epe, what I would like to do is have you tell me you're story in your words. Shohei Otani is about to play his first regular season game in a Dodgers jersey and he will deliver. He'll get his first hit, his first steal, his first RBI for the Dodgers. But that will not be the top headline tomorrow because his interpreter is about to steal the show. Hi, I'm John Favreau. We're going behind the scenes with the cast and crew sharing stories from the set, creative insights and a few surprises from across the galaxy. I think he's earned a little snack. Watch and listen to Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu Official Podcast, now streaming on Disney Plus or wherever you get your podcasts and catch Star Wars The Mandalorian and Grogu now streaming on Disney Plus, Terms Apply. Coach, find out your best holiday and actually murderers you. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for Bundled Subscribers, Terms Apply. An all-new season of the Hulu original series, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. Four years ago, we were just making take talks, but it feels like there are no friendships left in mom talk. You act like you're better than everyone, you're not. I can't trust anyone in this group. She's just dead to me. There's so much the public doesn't know. Watch the new season of the Hulu original series, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for Bundled Subscribers, Terms Apply. I'm the only reporter you pay ever spoke to about this story. It's now been more than two years since we had this call, and every time I listen to it, I hear it differently. When the interview starts, my first goal is to get an understanding of how the bookie at the center of this story, Matt Boyer, came into the picture. By now, I've confirmed that Boyer is under federal investigation, and the wire transfers I saw, the ones with show his name on them, went to Boyer's operation. So what I'm going to do is start at what I think is the beginning. Can you tell me how you met Matt Boyer? Yes, so I met him at a local poker game. He knew I was show his interpreter, so he kind of approached me, saying like he's like a fan. Okay. Did he tell you what he did for a living? He told me that he has a sports book. A sports book is just a place that takes sports bets. It can be a brick-and-mortar building, or an app, or a website. Epay tells me he'd bet in Las Vegas sports books in the past, and he was betting once in a while on draft kings. He says he didn't realize that Boyer's sports book was different, that it was illegal. I thought it was legal this whole time, and once I found out that there was a federal investigation going into two, three days ago, that's when I first found out, and I was pretty shocked to hear that. So, when you started your account, did you have to give like a credit card, or put some cash in, or anything like that? No, he had a credit line. Okay, I thought that was pretty. Epay is telling me that when he logged on to his account with Boyer, there was already credit there for him to use. A legal sports book will never give gamblers credit up front. That's one of the main draws for any legal sports book. No money down. Did that raise a red flag for you? Unfortunately, it didn't have to sign. What did you bet on? What were you betting on? Oh, I bet on some football, basketball, soccer, not baseball. I never got on baseball over the domestic anything, that's 100 percent, I knew that, I knew that rule. He said, is that a rule, which rule? That's a bet on baseball. Who told you that? No, we have like a meeting about that and screen changing. Okay. You must think, go down baseball ever, but it was okay to bet on other sports, other than baseball, with my understanding. This tracks with Major League Baseball's rules on sports betting. Players and team employees can bet on sports, but they may not bet on baseball and they cannot use a bookie. Did anyone ever tell you that you couldn't use a bookmaker? I don't fully recall. But eBay says, once he met the bookie, he began to rack up millions of dollars in debt. Why were you doing that? What was it doing for you? Okay. Okay, so at the time, I couldn't share this with Joe, but it was hard for me to make like my end meet of chronic or patient to patient, because I kind of had to keep up with his lifestyle. But at the same time, I didn't want to tell him this, obviously ended up being the worst case scenario. And I didn't want to go to help, I didn't want to go to him for help financially, it felt like that. So I was just trying to make ends meet on my side and, okay, I was in debt a little bit and felt with a little bit like my parents and some friends and a time that's back gambling, the fact that he's going to give me some credit, I felt like I had a chance to kind of make no money back, I can't be involved, but be lowered into the worst situation. I'm wondering if this response might be rehearsed. It feels like a clean answer that just came pouring out of e-pay in one go. Before this, the most we had ever heard him speak was when he interpreted show his words. He rarely ever spoke about himself. I'm curious, you were talking about how you know you couldn't keep up with show his lifestyle and you didn't tell him that, but you couldn't do it. How much do you make each year? Well, at the time, I was making about 85,000 followers a year. This is 2021-ish. Yes. Okay. Did you start to make more than that over the next couple of months or years? Well, now with the daughters, I am making more money and last year with the angels became you a pretty good raise. Okay. I have been told you make roughly $300,000. Is this going to go out on this story? I've had someone tell me it's 300,000. If that is incorrect, I want to know. Okay. Well, my new deal with the daughters is a little bit more than that. Okay. Is it more than $500,000? No. Okay. Back in 2021 with his $85,000 a year salary, Epe says it was tough to make ends meet. So when Boyer Sportsbook offered him credit, he says it seemed like a chance to make some money. So, did it go bad quickly or did you win some money? I never cast out as terrible, I never thought I was going to do it ever again. I never won any money from there. Really? I just kept on losing and I just kept on digging a paper hole and just couldn't get out of it. Did you tell anyone? No. I did not. Why? Mainly it was just embarrassing and I mean my wife goes into the novel and you're just sad. So, even right now. Okay. And she's with us in Korea right now and she's not having a great time with like the right family and my heart is ripping apart every minute, like she noticed that I'm like we're adapting, we're in, we just kind of like call her right now really the whole trip. Epe pauses and another voice jumps into the conversation. His name is Matt Hiltzik. He's show Hayotani's spokesperson and he's been listening in on this call the whole time. When he speaks up here he tells Epe we're all here for you and we're all going to help you. He says we care about you as a person. As he continues to reassure Epe I wonder if he is talking to Epe or if this speech is actually meant for me because the spokesperson was hired to protect show Hay and show Hay's reputation. He doesn't represent Epe or Epe's interests. He tells Epe we just want the truth. When he stops talking I take my cue to continue. How much do you estimate you lost overall with Boyer's operation? I had seen the wires showing that show Hayotani's bank account had sent money to the bookies operation. But I've heard it could be a lot more, maybe as much as $16 million. Boyer's operation was paid at least $4.5 million. What is your response to the head? Is it more than that? I don't think so. For people who have never been in this place, how do you get to $4.5 million? Is it because you keep hoping, for instance, that the next bet is going to bail you out? For someone who doesn't know what it's like, how do you get to $4.5 million? I mean, I drove myself a hole and kept on getting bigger, and it meant I had that bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing with the snowball effect. How did you start paying him back? Oh, so that's when I had to go to the show very, very hard. E-Pay is about to explain why the money was coming from Shohei's bank account, even though E-Pay is the one gambling. By 2023, E-Pay had racked up millions of dollars in debt and to pay off those debts, he says he goes to Shohei. "How did that go down?" "I explained my situation, what's going on and why I'm in this much of a debt, and obviously he wasn't happy about it, but Shohei was helping me out. Make sure I never do this again," and that's pretty much what happened, and he decided to pay it off for me. "Did he offer, did you ask?" "I asked." "How do you ask someone?" I mean, it's been characterized to me that the two of you are best friends, that you are as close as brothers, how would you care for your relationship with him? "These best friends, we are like brothers, we're with each other every day, and some work I'm with him to my wife probably, so I mean it feels like a family to me." E-Pay and Shohei were always around each other. There seemed to be a genuine closeness between them. Tim saw it, others did too, and now E-Pay says they really are that close. "Was it hard to come to him or was it easy because you are close?" "It's extremely hard." "I didn't want, like that was the last thing I wanted to, I mean, so I didn't want to go to him about making my ends meet, and this was on another level, so it's really, really difficult." Were you frightened? "Yes." "In that moment when you went to him, what were you afraid of?" "I mean, a lot of things, I mean, in the trust that I be built for, you know, afraid I might go away, maybe he might think of me differently, or something like that." Were you afraid of your safety or anything like that? "Safety." "Mhm." "I mean, yeah, it was, I was, because I was in almost that, I didn't know, like, I was in front of him, like, come to my house from there, like, I had those kind of thoughts too." I'm intrigued by E-Pay's response. His initial fear is what his debt will do to his relationship with Shohe, but when I bring up his safety, he says, "Yes." He was afraid, but he's told me he thought this was a legal sportsbook. So why would he be afraid? Legal sportsbooks don't come knocking at your door to collect their debts. "So, I would like to get into the specifics of what Shohe offered you when you told him you were in trouble. You said you asked him for help, did you ask him for money? "I asked him if he could pay my debt off. He had to give this some thoughts." Had he ever gambled himself, sorry, if you were aware? "I think guarantee of my life on the line, like, he's never placed any sportsbooks ever in this life." E-Pay says Shohe would even talk about how much he dislikes gambling. "He thinks gambling is terrible, and obviously he doesn't need the money." "How do you know he thinks gambling is terrible?" "Well, he sees, but people, my teammates would be gambling all the time, and he'll be like, "Why aren't he doing this, my gambling is not good?" "When he would make comments like that, how would that make you feel internally?" "Oh terrible." "Yeah." "So that makes it even harder to go to, and I would imagine." "I'm sure it feels very hard to go to." You said he went to go think about it. So what does he come back to you with, like, walking you through that conversation? "I mean, for the next time I see him, he says, all right, I'm just going to pay the fall off for you and make sure, like, you go over there and sort of show it again." That was basically, like, he was pretty, like, short and simple. "Do you discuss how to pay it off?" "He asked me how, like, what do I need to do, and I got a lot of information." I'm getting really granular here because I want to know exactly, step by step, what the process was that led to those wire transfers. Before E.P. is saying is true, what role did Shohei play in sending money to an illegal bookie? "Did you send him a text message with an email, did he send it to you, like, how does this work?" "I think he texted me a wire information." "So you turn around and say to Shohei, here's the wire transfer information?" "Do you show it to him on your phone, do you text it to him, do you do it for him, like, how does that go?" "I get it on his behalf." "Okay." "So, do you have access to his bank account?" "No, I don't." "Okay. So, when you say you did it on his behalf, explain to me how that works." Shohei was with me, I was with him on this laptop or computer, and he could log in online banking and send the wire. "E.P. says Shohei knew about the wires. He says that they sent them together. My adrenaline is pumping. If that's true, he's just put Shohei's fingerprints on the transaction. It wasn't just that the money was coming from Shohei's account. E.P. says Shohei was involved." By telling me this, by admitting this, he's directly implicating Shohei and sending millions to an illegal bookmaking operation that's under investigation for money laundering. I'm wondering, does E.P. realize what he just said? When an investigative reporter reaches out about a story that connects a celebrity to potential scandal, it usually kicks off a careful PR response. But here is E.P. possibly implicating Shohei in something that could jeopardize his career. Was this the plan? Is he going off script? Has my line of questioning forced him to reveal something he didn't mean to? Because the spokesperson doesn't intervene, so I keep going. "What was his understanding of who Boyer was? If he knew that Matt was a bookie, I don't think he had any clue who he was or what he did. Because I just found out this is the guy that I either send the wire to me after that." He didn't say "Have you done anything illegal or anything like that?" No, I'll take his question here about that. One of the things that we know about the transfers is that it says "Lone" on them, and I'm curious why it says "Lone." "Well, you have to add a description for a wire." "Mm-hmm." "I think Matt might have told me it's too long or you have to put something there." If you wire a real loan to someone, you don't pay income taxes on it, but if you lie about it and it's not actually a loan, you're potentially committing tax fraud. I would be interested in seeing any kind of tax messages or communications from Matt. "I deleted every tax I had with Matt." Up until this point, I've led eBay tell me his story in his words. I haven't really pushed back on what he says for a reason. I wanted to see where he would go with it, but now I need to challenge some of what he's told me. So, I, I, I, I, I, I, and forgive me for the CP. This is a lot of money. You tell him you're in trouble. You know, it's for gambling. You really did sit there and think about whether this is legal or not. Me, myself? Yeah. I never, that never really crossed my mind ever, that this was like illegal at all. Until a couple days ago when I found out there was a investigation going on. Did you think at any point by asking Shohei to pay your debt that he would potentially be committing, he would be putting himself frankly in the situation we're in right now where there would be questions about legality? I don't think either of us did think about that at the time at all. Do you have the kind of relationship where he does things without questioning it? The spokesperson jumps in here. He says to Epe, he wasn't happy with you, right? No, yeah, he was definitely not happy. Epe tells me boy or one of the money in a lump sum, but they could only send the wires in 500 thousand dollar installments. He says he and Shohei sent about eight or nine payments over the course of several months in 2023. That matches what my sources have told me. After you tell him about your situation and he begins to make these payments on your behalf, get it or how did it change your relationship with him? Honestly, to be honest, in the beginning, I felt really uncomfortable, it was hard to see him, but the nice guy, I mean, he's a great guy and he just, he went on his life like nothing ever happened. Shohei, going on with his life in 2023, equated to hitting 44 home runs and earning the MVP award in the American League. And now Epe is telling me that all that time, he and Shohei found the time, just sit down together and secretly wire millions of dollars to Boyer's operation. I felt like maybe like after a few weeks, a month, I really can take that to where I was before. I mean, for me, I felt really uncomfortable for the first like a few weeks and really guilty and felt terrible, but he kind of helped that go away. But you had to keep making these payments? Yes. Did you have to keep having this conversation? But he knew the whole amount and he knew that we had to make several payments because it came in the morning, 500 thousand out of time. So it wasn't like I asked him every week, like oh sorry, this came up again, it wasn't like that. How was it? I thought like in the beginning when I told him, like this is how much I'm in that. I know it's the whole amount, but he knew that he had to pay that whole amount of all for me. It was going to be an increment. So would you go to him and remind him, would he just do it of his own volition? No, I would do it with him every time. And it just became normal. It wasn't awkward, like it was in the beginning, is that what you're saying? Yes. For me, I mean, it was all, so how did every time you write it? It was a lot. But he didn't make a big deal out of it. No. Yeah. How did you feel about that? Explain to me how that made you feel. I mean, I'm very appreciative, obviously, but at the same time. So it was really, really like a super guilt trip, like really guilty, terrible. And I mean, ever since that day, like I was always in the dark on my mind, haunting me every day. I was thinking about it. Like it's always there in my head. Unless it's all over slowly. Did you offer to ever pay him back? Or was this, you know, I'm going to pay this and we're cool? Or did you say, let me try to pay some of this back? No, I'm going to pay him back. I thought I wanted to pay him back. Might take a lot of what I told him, even if he says no or anything, I'm going to make all the effort to pay him back. What's really important to me is that I understand correctly about why Shohei would pay an illegal bookmaker directly from his bank account and call it alone rather than just giving money to you, we pay to pay off your debts. So we didn't know that this was illegal. This was so long. That's very important. And he didn't want to make you get the money to me and he didn't want me to try to gamble it off again. So he wanted me to go back to the debt. Like my source had predicted, Epay is taking the blame. He says he was the gambler and he asked Shohei to pay off his debts. But there's a critical question that I've been building to here, which is simply, why should I believe you, Epay? One of the things that's been said to me is that a ton of employer money. And I want to understand why it would be characterized that way to me. I would have no idea why that would anyone would say that. His name is on the bank statements. His name's on the wires. I mean, there's going to be, there's going to be people wondering, is it the Tommy who did it and you're taking the ball for him? So I want to give you a chance to respond to that. This spokesperson jumps in before Epay can say anything. He tells me, Epay has already answered the question that he spent the last hour sharing his story. But I push back. No, I don't know, but I want to give you a chance to respond to that criticism. You know, I'm anticipating, oh, he's just taking the ball for a ton of money. So what would you say to someone who would accuse you of that? Shohei never ever met that employer. Never talked to him. So there would be no way that so vacate of, I mean, been doing this on his own or anything and it was all me. And 100% truth and all Shohei did was pay it off for me. And it was like not much more than that. So was there any kind of conversation between the two of you that like his name is now going to be on these wire transfers? He's now connected to this now. His name, whether it's legal or not, his name is now connected to someone that you owe money to. And he's going to get pulled into this now with a really no conversation like, now your name's attached to this. It really wasn't because, like I said earlier, we thought we had another sort of illegal kind of 100% legal. We can really think about I think what troubles with this name being involved in this. And obviously it's fine if this was illegal, then I would never show his name into any of this. This is when the spokesperson interjects again. This time telling me there's no cover up. I never said the word cover up, but the spokesperson doubles down saying if people say this is just a cover up, it's the worst cover up in history. Like you're denying there's any kind of cover up here. There's absolutely no cover up. Okay, that'll all. What was your gut level, fundamental reaction when you learned that Matt was under investigation? I wasn't scared more than anything. I still am at this moment, but it's about it. What are you scared about at this moment? Well, when the story goes out, the reaction to the story is, but I'm afraid of it. You're afraid of the media, not necessarily the federal investigators or something like that. Well, I'm not too sure what's going on with, like, the whole federal investigation thing. I just, you know, that there's an investigation, I don't know any more details. Has anyone reached out to you from the federal government? No, never. Has anyone reached out to show hey about these bank transfers from the federal government? No, not the other one. She would tell me someone then. We've now been talking for about 80 minutes, and this spokesperson is interrupting more and more. I can feel that my time is running out, and I'm worried he's going to try to end the interview. I'm getting very close to the end, guys, because I know you're watching the clock. eBay thinks we're going to have the chance to talk again. He and I seem to have a very different understanding of the gravity of what he's told me. I think he's going to be fired. He may be in even more trouble. I don't know. Either way, I don't think they're ever going to let me talk to him again. What have I not asked you that you think is really important that people understand that you want folks to know? Obviously, I want everyone to know that. So they have zero involvement in the betting. I want to make that clear. And I want people to know that I don't know if this is illegal. Obviously, I've learned my lesson in a very hard way, and I take it to my heart, and I will never ever be spitting over again. Never do sports betting. Are you prepared to face the consequences if baseball, and when I say baseball, I mean, the Dodgers are major league baseball decide to take action? After I hang up with eBay, I begin to type out my story. eBay Misajara says he lost millions of dollars in bets with an illegal bookmaker, and his best friend, Shohei Otani, someone he says he is closer to than a brother, offered to pay off his debts, at least that's what the article was going to say. eBay Misajara says he is closer to than a brother, offered to pay off his debts, and I want to hire a private investigator, some folks saying in the best, ABC Tuesday, TV's hottest T.I. is back. A few hours after I get off the phone with eBay, the opening day game of the 2024 MLB season gets underway. The Dodgers versus the Padres, the two American teams are at GoChuck's Skydome in Seoul, South Korea. I'm watching the game on my laptop while I work on my story. All eyes are on Shohei. But at this moment, I don't really care about what's happening on the field. I'm waiting for the cameras to cut away to the dugout, waiting, watching for eBay. What does he look like? Is he tired? Because I'm exhausted. I never went to bed and it's now 6 o'clock in the morning on the East Coast. Well he looks stressed. Will Shohei be able to look him in the eye? Because eBay's made a mess and now Shohei and his people are going to have to clean it up. eBay has just confessed to an ESPN reporter that he racked up millions of dollars of debt betting on sports, and that he and Shohei sent money to an illegal bookmaking operation. In just a couple of hours, we're planning to publish my article that will reveal both of these things to the world. But instead of looking like two men who are in trouble and whose relationship I would think would be under considerable stress, they're laughing. Standing next to each other in the dugout, watching the game, Shohei and eBay are laughing together. Very little surprises me these days. But that, the two of them laughing. I was stunned. The Dodgers beat the Padres, five to two. As the team walks off the field into the locker room, we're in the final stages of putting our story together. But less than 15 minutes before we're set to publish, I get a call from Shohei's spokesperson Matt Hilton. When I pick up, he shouts into the phone, eBay lied. Matt Hilton is freaking out in a way I've never before experienced in my career. He's frantic, telling me that Shohei just now learned about the transfers from his account, just now in the locker room. He says Shohei had no idea eBay was using his money to pay off the debts, and that the whole thing was a lie. He says he's still trying to figure out what happened and hangs out. Not long after, I get a statement from Otani's lawyers. It says, "In the course of responding to recent media and queries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities." I call eBay, I don't record it, everything is moving too fast. I read him the statement, and he confirms it, but won't say anything more. eBay, I say, "Did you lie to me last night in some of your statements?" Yes. I'm worried he'll hang up, and I need clear answers. So I jump into a set of yes or no questions. Did Shohei transfer funds to the bookmaking operation? No. Did Shohei know the funds were being transferred? No. Did you tell Shohei about the gambling debts and wiring the money? No. Did you offer to pay him back? Yes. When? As soon as I can. I ask, "Today or in the past," eBay says. I told him today and the past. I've been told by Shohei's team that he only learned just now that eBay took his money, but eBay saying he had offered to pay it back in the past. So I start to ask him, "When did Shohei learn his money was missing?" But eBay interrupts me. They told me, "I can't answer anything." Who is they? He doesn't answer. Is it Otani's people? He doesn't answer. I ask him if he's being paid or getting any kind of deal to say this. He says, "No. He's doing it of his own free will." Are you employed with the Dodgers? He tells me. He's not sure. Then I ask, "Did you lie to Shohei?" eBay says, "Yes." Throughout the call, I can hear a voice talking, "I think to him." I can't tell if it's a man or a woman. I don't know if it was his wife, Shohei's agent, or someone else. When I ask, "Are you being accused of stealing or embezzling from Shohei?" eBay interrupts. I was also told I can't comment on that part. I asked, "Have you told your family?" He says, "I don't want to talk about my family." "We hang up," I call my editors. As we drop these new quotes into the story, I text E-Pay with one final question. Did you take the money from Shohei's accounts without his knowledge? E-Pay never responds. The Dodgers have fired the interpreter for Shohei Otani. Bisouhara allegedly placed wagers with an illegal sportsbook in California. Accused of racking up millions of dollars in illegal gambling debts. And claims Otani had no knowledge of his gambling debts or transfers. It's certainly not the good look now. Good Otani would like. The scandal now rocking this sport. So how in the world does someone just transfer $4.5 million of his money and he has no idea of it? Why did the story change so drastically? My sources first told me Shohei's bank account was sending money to a bookie. But then E-Pay said he was the one gambling. Shohei was just helping him pay his debts. And now it's changed again. It was all E-Pay. E-Pay placed the bets and somehow access Shohei's bank account to pay off the bookie. And Shohei knew nothing about it. Who really is E-Pay? E-Pay says he and Shohei were closer than brothers, always together. And so in this moment, people were asking, is it really possible that Shohei didn't know what was going on? You know where your money's at? I know where my money's at. That's all I could say. Either Shohei was betrayed by his best friend or he threw his best friend under the bus. This season, on the betrayal of Shohei Otani. Everyone was every little bit of Shohei Otani. And E-Pay was part of him. Part of the Shohei Otani deal was E-Pay. I was shocked to see this person bet over 19,000 sports events. I mean, even if I wanted to, I couldn't do that many bets. I was pissed. It was definitely not manipulation from the get go. It painted a really shocking picture of one person abusing the trust of another person. Tani on the run. All one down. And Otani has another stolen base. The betrayal of Shohei Otani is based on reporting by me, Tisha Thompson, with support from Tim Kulan, ESPN Investigative Unit. Our producer is Carrie Antonis. Our senior producer is Max Green. Our senior editorial producer is Priti Varathon. Our associate producer is Gus Navarro. Story editing by Audrey Quinn, Elaine Tang, Eric Neal, and Mike Drago. Additional editing by Rebecca Hudson. Our archival producer is Jennifer Wheelock. Our line producer is Catherine Sanky. Production managers are Jason Schwartz and Shina Williams. Fact checking by John Masterbaradino with David Sabino. Additional editorial review from Massa Niwa. Original music by Allison Layton Brown and John DeLore. Sound design by John DeLore. Chris Buckle is vice president of ESPN Investigative Enterprise and Digital Journalism. Marsha Cook, Brian Lockhart, Heather Anderson, and Burke Magnus are executive producers for 30 for 30. David Roberts, Mike Foss, and Roxanna Scott are executive producers for ESPN. In 1986, a man named Scott McLean was killed in broad daylight. Police quickly found their suspect. Prosecutors convicted him. But now, almost 40 years later, I'm re-examining this case. I really didn't believe any of it was real. I was like, well, they're going to figure out this is not me. They're going to do their police job. Is the wrong man been in prison this whole time? Listen to examined, the backfire effect, wherever you get your podcasts.