Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was hit with a poorly timed $240 million lawsuit on Monday relating to a real estate transaction that fell apart. The lawsuit alleges Ohtani and his agent “exploited their celebrity leverage to destabilize and ultimately dismantle Plaintiffs’ role in the project — for no reason other than their own financial self-interest,” per the Associated Press.
USA Today’s Scooby Axson obtained other details, and they don’t paint Ohtani and his agent as good-faith business partners.
“The lawsuit was filed in Hawaii Circuit Court on Aug. 8 and obtained by USA TODAY Sports. It says that Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, wanted assurances from Kevin J. Hayes Sr. — a developer who has been in business for 40 years — and real estate broker Tomoko Matsumoto before they demanded their business partner, Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a company based in Las Vegas, remove both from the real estate deal,” Axson wrote.
The defense labeled the case “an abuse of power.”
“This case is about abuse of power. 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. Defendants must be held accountable for their actions, not shielded by fame or behind-the-scenes agents acting with impunity. Defendants must be held accountable for their actions, not shielded by fame or behind-the-scenes agents acting with impunity. Plaintiffs bring this suit to expose Defendants’ misconduct and to ensure that the rules of contract, fair dealing, and accountability apply equally to all — celebrity or not,” the lawsuit states.
This is either one hell of a smear campaign or the beginning of a potential PR downturn for the head-and-shoulders-above best player in Major League Baseball.
Ohtani’s previous scandal, where his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for stealing $17 million from Ohtani's personal bank accounts to cover gambling debts, involved another person making mistakes using his resources.
This time around, Ohtani is directly involved. He’ll undoubtedly take the heat, including a massive financial penalty, if he’s found guilty of any wrongdoing.
More details can either prove Ohtani’s innocence or send him to the court of public opinion’s gulag.