Shohei Ohtani has found himself in the middle of another legal scandal.
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday, August 12, that a Hawaiian real estate investor and broker filed a lawsuit against Ohtani, 31, and his agent, Nez Balelo. The real estate professionals claim the duo got them fired from a $240 million luxury housing development on the Hapuna Coast on the Big Island.
Ohtani was allegedly brought into the real estate deal for his “promotional and branding value,” per the outlet. The real estate professionals claimed that Ohtani and Balelo allegedly “exploited their celebrity leverage to destabilize and ultimately dismantle” their role in the project.
“This case is about abuse of power,” the lawsuit read, per the AP. “Defendants used threats and baseless legal claims to force a business partner to betray its contractual obligations and strip Plaintiffs of the very project they conceived and built.”
The lawsuit called for Ohtani and Balelo to be “held accountable for their actions, not shielded by fame or behind-the-scenes agents acting with impunity.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Ohtani for comment.
The lawsuit against Ohtani comes nearly a year after the baseball player’s scandal with his former interpreter and friend, Ippei Mizuhara. Mizuhara worked alongside Ohtani when he made his Major League Baseball debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018.
Six years later, Mizuhara and Ohtani made headlines after the interpreter was fired by the Dodgers for allegedly taking millions of dollars from Ohtani to settle his gambling debts. Law enforcement and the MLB launched their respective investigations into the allegations. Ohtani maintained his innocence, stating that he was not aware his money was being used to settle a gambling debt, had no involvement with gambling overall and was the victim of a “massive theft.”
“I’ve never bet on baseball or any other sport or ever asked anyone to do it on my behalf,” the athlete said during a March 2024 press conference. “I never went through a bookmaker to bet on sports.’’
Ohtani was cleared from both investigations after Mizuhara confessed that he stole millions from the all-star and used the funds for gambling purposes. In June 2024, Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud and admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off sports betting debts.
“I worked for victim A and had access to his bank account and had fallen into major gambling debt,” he told the court, per the AP. “I went ahead and wired money…with his bank account.”
In February, Mizuhara was sentenced to 57 months in prison. He is currently behind bars at the Federal Correctional Institution at Allenwood Low in Pennsylvania.
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