# Introducing: The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani - "The Letter O" | EP 1

An episode of [Love Trapped](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1878220033), 18 Aug 2026, 20 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/20968bfe-1a62-450f-a762-b3de0110281c/8a68500b-f5d2-4b4f-bf9f-b4a900ff4b29/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=1c0ae3b2-ec1e-4a0c-a144-b3de01102fb1

Love Trapped listeners, we're excited to share a special, ad-free preview of Episode One of this season of ESPN’s 30 for 30 Podcasts: The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani. Episode 1: "The Letter O" — ESPN Investigative Reporter Tisha Thompson receives a tip that, if true, could damage Shohei Ohtani’s picture-perfect reputation. If you enjoyed what you heard, you can binge all six episodes of The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani on the 30 for 30 Podcasts feed or by searching for "The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani" on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hey guys, it's Stephanie. Something you may not know about
[0:03] Speaker 1: me is that I've been a baseball fan my entire life,
[0:06] Speaker 1: and I was lucky enough to spend part of my
[0:08] Speaker 1: career working for the Chicago Cubs. When I heard about
[0:11] Speaker 1: this new podcast from ESPN's thirty for thirty, I knew
[0:15] Speaker 1: I had to share it with you. I remember exactly
[0:17] Speaker 1: what it felt like when this story broke. At the time,
[0:21] Speaker 1: Shoheotani wasn't just the biggest name in baseball. He was
[0:24] Speaker 1: a once in a generation athlete at the peak of
[0:27] Speaker 1: his career. Then millions of dollars from his bank account
[0:30] Speaker 1: were linked to an illegal gambling operation. Suddenly he was
[0:35] Speaker 1: trapped inside a scandal that could have ended his career.
[0:38] Speaker 1: At the center of it all was the man Otani
[0:40] Speaker 1: trusted most, his interpreter, his guide, and one of his
[0:45] Speaker 1: closest friends. ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson reveals how she
[0:50] Speaker 1: broke the story, landed the only interview with Otani's interpreter,
[0:55] Speaker 1: and ultimately uncovered the truth for our love trapped listeners.
[0:58] Speaker 1: I'm excited to share special preview of episode one of
[1:02] Speaker 1: this season of ESPN's thirty for thirty podcasts The Betrayal
[1:06] Speaker 1: of Show Hey Otani. This is the letter, Oh Enjoy.
[1:25] Speaker 2: It's November twenty twenty four and the Los Angeles Dodgers
[1:29] Speaker 2: are in their home stadium celebrating their World Series win.
[1:34] Speaker 2: The players line up on the podium. Team manager Dave
[1:37] Speaker 2: Roberts takes the mic and introduces some of the stars
[1:42] Speaker 2: Ron Ron, Ron, and then he calls out the name
[1:46] Speaker 2: everyone's waiting for who from show Show Hey Otani? Just
[1:55] Speaker 2: finished his first season with the Dodgers. He's a head
[1:58] Speaker 2: taller than a lot of his teammates, and he's wearing
[2:01] Speaker 2: a T shirt and backwards ball cap. When he gives
[2:04] Speaker 2: a shy grin as he takes the mic, this is
[2:10] Speaker 2: so special woman. This is one of the first times
[2:15] Speaker 2: that show he has spoken publicly in English without an interpreter.
[2:20] Speaker 3: I'm so owner, w h and.
[2:26] Speaker 2: Congresserations. Thank you boss, That's all he says, and the
[2:33] Speaker 2: crowd absolutely loves it. By any measure. Show Hayes first
[2:41] Speaker 2: season with the Dodgers was extraordinary. Here's a two one
[2:46] Speaker 2: that awesome exactly show.
[2:49] Speaker 3: The all time whats in October?
[2:52] Speaker 4: What about three?
[2:53] Speaker 2: Ron Homero on ol Times.
[3:02] Speaker 4: One of a chime player, one of a giant season.
[3:07] Speaker 1: So Heyo Toni starts the fifty fifty club.
[3:15] Speaker 2: Many believe he could become the best baseball player of
[3:17] Speaker 2: all time.
[3:19] Speaker 4: It's really not hyperbole, guys, to say that sho he
[3:21] Speaker 4: Otani is the new Babe.
[3:23] Speaker 2: Ruth oh Tani Dfield.
[3:27] Speaker 5: Forget about it.
[3:33] Speaker 2: It's the kind of success that helps overshadow what happened
[3:37] Speaker 2: just months before at the start of this season, when
[3:41] Speaker 2: shohe was caught up in a scandal that could have
[3:44] Speaker 2: ended at all. We're going to turn to the scandal
[3:46] Speaker 2: rocky Major League Baseball. Soho hey Otani, it's set to
[3:49] Speaker 2: address the media today.
[3:50] Speaker 4: This scandal has the potential to be one of the
[3:52] Speaker 4: biggest sports scandals that we've ever seen, certainly one of
[3:54] Speaker 4: the biggest baseball scandals that we've ever seen.
[3:57] Speaker 2: Our team at ESPN broke the story. It tied the
[4:01] Speaker 2: money of one of the highest paid players in baseball
[4:04] Speaker 2: history to a vast illegal sports betting operation. But when
[4:10] Speaker 2: it was over, he would walk away and someone else,
[4:14] Speaker 2: someone close to him, would confess to a shocking crime,
[4:19] Speaker 2: disappearing in disgrace and in this moment at the World Series, celebration.
[4:28] Speaker 2: You could almost forget it ever happened. But two years later,
[4:35] Speaker 2: I still have so many questions. So I'm going to
[4:38] Speaker 2: travel the country, chase down leads, and try to understand
[4:41] Speaker 2: how one of sports most complicated friendships detonated into one
[4:46] Speaker 2: of the biggest scandals in baseball history. Probably the greatest
[4:53] Speaker 2: players that ever played the.
[4:55] Speaker 4: Game challenge Federal investigation question that wired transfer.
[5:00] Speaker 2: He want a half million dollars to us Southern California bookmaker,
[5:03] Speaker 2: and he.
[5:03] Speaker 1: Has no idea of it.
[5:06] Speaker 2: I'm ESPN investigative reporter Tisha Thompson from thirty to thirty podcasts.
[5:12] Speaker 2: This is the Betrayal of Sho Hey O Tani, Episode one,
[5:17] Speaker 2: The Letter Oh. I started working on this story a
[5:23] Speaker 2: year before show Hey won that World Series when a
[5:26] Speaker 2: source sent me a tip. At first, the tip seemed
[5:30] Speaker 2: to have nothing to do with baseball or any sport.
[5:33] Speaker 2: It was information from a federal court document still under seal,
[5:37] Speaker 2: a list of items that had been seized from a
[5:40] Speaker 2: house in California. It included the kinds of things you
[5:44] Speaker 2: might expect from a federal raid computers, hard drives, and
[5:48] Speaker 2: cell phones, but there were also forty thousand dollars, brightling watches,
[5:54] Speaker 2: handbags from Chanel Ermez Louis Vatan, and casino chips, lots
[6:00] Speaker 2: and lots of casino chips. Why were the FEDS interested
[6:05] Speaker 2: in it? Because all of these things were taken from
[6:09] Speaker 2: a house owned by a man named Mad Boyer. The
[6:15] Speaker 2: FEDS also seized a cash counting machine, sports betting records,
[6:20] Speaker 2: and receipts for offshore bankwires. And that's when I say
[6:24] Speaker 2: to myself, I think Matt Boyer is a bookie, a
[6:28] Speaker 2: person who takes bets, pays them out when they win,
[6:32] Speaker 2: and collects when they lose. My source confirms it. Mad
[6:36] Speaker 2: Boyer is a bookie, but he isn't just any bookie.
[6:40] Speaker 2: According to my source, his clients include celebrities, millionaires, and
[6:44] Speaker 2: seemingly one of the most famous athletes in the world.
[6:48] Speaker 2: When my source tells me the name of that athlete,
[6:51] Speaker 2: it's a name so big, so shocking, that all I
[6:55] Speaker 2: write down is the letter, Oh.
[7:00] Speaker 6: You tell me the name of the athlete involved, and
[7:04] Speaker 6: that the FEDS are evolved in an investigation. And that
[7:08] Speaker 6: is why we have to be so careful.
[7:10] Speaker 2: This is my editor, Elaine Tang.
[7:12] Speaker 6: We're really worried about putting a rumor out there that
[7:14] Speaker 6: then comes back to us as fact. We have to
[7:17] Speaker 6: be really careful about going out and saying like, hey, like,
[7:20] Speaker 6: do you think is sho Hey Otani gambling with a bookie?
[7:24] Speaker 2: This tip was so potentially damning we needed to tread
[7:28] Speaker 2: really carefully because it could turn into a very grown
[7:31] Speaker 2: up version of that kid's game Telephone, where someone whispers
[7:35] Speaker 2: something to someone and then they whisper it to someone else,
[7:37] Speaker 2: and by the time it comes back to you it's
[7:39] Speaker 2: totally different from what you said. I couldn't just ask
[7:42] Speaker 2: sources questions like hey, to show Hey gamble, even if
[7:45] Speaker 2: the answer was no. They might tell someone else in
[7:48] Speaker 2: the clubhouse that ESPN was asking if show Hey gambled,
[7:51] Speaker 2: and then that person says to someone else, Hey, I
[7:53] Speaker 2: heard show Hey gambles. By the time I call several
[7:56] Speaker 2: someones later, that person then says to me, Oh, yeah,
[7:59] Speaker 2: I have heard he gambles. All I have done is
[8:02] Speaker 2: confirm a rumor that I started a rumor about Shohei
[8:06] Speaker 2: Otani paying millions of dollars to an illegal bookie.
[8:10] Speaker 6: I think it was the amount of money involved, as
[8:13] Speaker 6: well as the caliber of the athlete that feels really
[8:18] Speaker 6: loaded and you know, extremely damaging if true, right to
[8:23] Speaker 6: the athlete, their reputation, their career.
[8:27] Speaker 2: It's a very serious allegation. I want to learn everything
[8:30] Speaker 2: I can about what someone could get themselves into betting
[8:34] Speaker 2: with a bookie, So I head to the sports betting
[8:36] Speaker 2: epicenter of the country. We are in Las Vegas, Baby,
[8:42] Speaker 2: I'm in Las Vegas to meet with the reporter I
[8:44] Speaker 2: think knows more about bookies and sports betting than anyone
[8:47] Speaker 2: else in the business.
[8:49] Speaker 3: What do you think the biggest money maker is for
[8:50] Speaker 3: the casino.
[8:52] Speaker 2: Penny slot as crank. This is ESPN's David Purdham. I
[8:58] Speaker 2: met him in a casino just off the Vain Strip.
[9:01] Speaker 2: We sit down in a room near the sports book
[9:04] Speaker 2: watching as people play beds. They put the sports.
[9:07] Speaker 4: Book in the back on purpose make you walk through
[9:10] Speaker 4: all the unflackaches.
[9:16] Speaker 2: I wanted to talk to Purdam about the tip I
[9:18] Speaker 2: received because he has a massive rolodex of sources in
[9:21] Speaker 2: the sports betting world. Had you ever heard of Matt
[9:24] Speaker 2: Boyer before?
[9:24] Speaker 3: I had not, never heard of him.
[9:26] Speaker 6: We gave you Matt.
[9:27] Speaker 2: Boyer's name and you called sources. You do the David
[9:31] Speaker 2: Purdam Magic and disappear for twelve hours and came back
[9:37] Speaker 2: with info.
[9:38] Speaker 3: Right, I usually go to you start with your guys
[9:41] Speaker 3: that you know have had this, and when they didn't know,
[9:43] Speaker 3: I had to expand and I did and found some
[9:47] Speaker 3: people that knew of him. And then when we found
[9:49] Speaker 3: out that he was coming to Vegas with a lot,
[9:51] Speaker 3: I talked to people here and they knew of him.
[9:55] Speaker 2: A source warrened Purdham that Boyer was connected to a
[9:58] Speaker 2: man with a dangerous reputation, a guy named Owen Hanson,
[10:02] Speaker 2: a former USC football player who became known as the
[10:05] Speaker 2: Coke King QB. When I got the original tip, Hanson
[10:09] Speaker 2: was in prison for bookmaking and drug trafficking and was
[10:13] Speaker 2: rumored to have ties to the cartel.
[10:15] Speaker 3: We had a source who was involved with running money
[10:19] Speaker 3: for that group, and he was telling us be careful,
[10:23] Speaker 3: right because Owen Hansen was not known as a good person.
[10:28] Speaker 3: He was known as a violent person around the betting community,
[10:32] Speaker 3: and when we was ties to Boyer, there was concern.
[10:38] Speaker 2: Over the next few weeks, we gathered more sources and
[10:41] Speaker 2: confirmed Boyer was running a huge sports book operation in
[10:44] Speaker 2: southern California. Is California more prolific with bookies than other
[10:50] Speaker 2: parts of the world.
[10:51] Speaker 3: Massive massive book making operations in California. Why because there's no.
[10:55] Speaker 2: Legal sports bett Sports betting is now legal in thirty
[10:59] Speaker 2: nine states plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, depending on
[11:03] Speaker 2: where you live. You can place bets through a state
[11:06] Speaker 2: licensed app, a website, or in a casino or a
[11:09] Speaker 2: bar in those states. But unless you're betting on a
[11:11] Speaker 2: horse race, sports betting in California is illegal. There is
[11:17] Speaker 2: no legal way to place a sports bet there. Not
[11:20] Speaker 2: on DraftKings, not on FanDuel, not in the tribal casinos.
[11:25] Speaker 2: So if you live in California and you want to
[11:27] Speaker 2: bet on sports, you either have to go somewhere like
[11:30] Speaker 2: Vegas or find a bookie, which is of course illegal.
[11:36] Speaker 2: But there are many reasons why someone might want to
[11:38] Speaker 2: use a bookie, even if the state they live in
[11:41] Speaker 2: has legal sports betting. Purdam says. A big reason is credit.
[11:46] Speaker 3: People want to bet on credit. You don't want to
[11:48] Speaker 3: give over your cash. If you can bet on credit,
[11:50] Speaker 3: huge advantage. I can just place my bet for one
[11:53] Speaker 3: hundred dollars and my money it never changes hands. You
[11:56] Speaker 3: go down A thousand bucks guy says Okay, let's meet
[11:59] Speaker 3: up at the waffle house and you go there and
[12:02] Speaker 3: you pass over an envelope, and that's how it's done.
[12:05] Speaker 2: Another reason someone might seek out a bookie is anonymity.
[12:09] Speaker 3: If you are an athlete betting with the DraftKings, there's
[12:13] Speaker 3: a chance that we could find it. But if you
[12:15] Speaker 3: can be betting with this legal sports book over here,
[12:19] Speaker 3: I would not be able to know it.
[12:21] Speaker 2: So Purdam says, a celebrity who wants to bet discreetly
[12:25] Speaker 2: might use a bookie. When I told him that show
[12:29] Speaker 2: Hey O Tawani was the athlete my source told me
[12:32] Speaker 2: might be involved with Matt Boyer.
[12:34] Speaker 3: I was stunned. I remember when you relayed the message
[12:38] Speaker 3: to me who the athlete was. I was like, oh
[12:41] Speaker 3: my gosh, I believe I cursed.
[12:44] Speaker 2: Why is sports betting such a sensitive topic for Major
[12:51] Speaker 2: League Baseball?
[12:52] Speaker 3: Well, you start with the Black Sox. Way back at
[12:55] Speaker 3: the beginning of the century. The Chicago White Sox players
[13:00] Speaker 3: of them got engaged with some criminals and they allegedly
[13:08] Speaker 3: agreed to throw a World Series.
[13:11] Speaker 2: Major League Baseball banned eight players from the Chicago White
[13:14] Speaker 2: Sox for life, and after that scandal, the league created
[13:18] Speaker 2: a set of rules about betting on sports. It forbids players, coaches,
[13:23] Speaker 2: and staff from using a bookie, and you may never
[13:26] Speaker 2: bet on baseball.
[13:28] Speaker 3: So that was the big one. The next time you
[13:30] Speaker 3: get some sort of betting scandals, Pete Rose.
[13:32] Speaker 5: Number four thousand, one ninety two bankes Pete Rose the
[13:37] Speaker 5: all time Major League Baseball hit later.
[13:40] Speaker 3: All time hits leader. He was eventually admitted to betting
[13:44] Speaker 3: on the game of baseball.
[13:46] Speaker 6: I was wrong.
[13:47] Speaker 3: I'm just stupid. The worst thing ever did in my life.
[13:51] Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty nine, MLB punished Pete Rose with a
[13:54] Speaker 2: lifetime band for betting on baseball. Pete Rose was one
[13:59] Speaker 2: of the greatest players of his generation. He holds records
[14:03] Speaker 2: that have never been broken, but all of his feats
[14:06] Speaker 2: on the field have been overshadowed by what he did
[14:09] Speaker 2: off the field. Could show Hao Tani, the greatest player
[14:13] Speaker 2: of his generation, be the next Pete Rose.
[14:16] Speaker 3: If they were to have found out that he was
[14:18] Speaker 3: betting on baseball, you would have been banned for life.
[14:21] Speaker 3: And this is your biggest star band for life.
[14:27] Speaker 2: Part of what made the allegation so shocking was how
[14:30] Speaker 2: sho Hao Tani had a reputation for being squeaky clean
[14:34] Speaker 2: before this, There's never been a whisper of a scandal
[14:37] Speaker 2: attached to his name, which makes it all the more
[14:40] Speaker 2: surprising to hear allegations that he might be tied to
[14:43] Speaker 2: a bookie with dangerous connections. But we realized we don't
[14:48] Speaker 2: actually know all that much about Showhy's life outside of baseball.
[14:53] Speaker 4: He is the most guarded and protected athlete that I
[14:59] Speaker 4: think I've ever been around.
[15:01] Speaker 2: This is ESPN's Tim Kewan. Tim specializes in writing profiles
[15:06] Speaker 2: of the most famous and oftentimes controversial names and sports
[15:10] Speaker 2: people like Barry Bonds, Aaron Rodgers, Floyd Mayweather Junior. Tim
[15:15] Speaker 2: says he's been trying to decipher the enigma that is
[15:18] Speaker 2: show Hey Otani ever since he first arrived here in
[15:21] Speaker 2: the United States.
[15:23] Speaker 4: When he came here, I first started observing him, knowing
[15:27] Speaker 4: that I was going to have to observe him to
[15:30] Speaker 4: write about him rather than talk to him, because it
[15:32] Speaker 4: was established early on that it was a dead end.
[15:35] Speaker 4: He will only take questions about the game, and very few,
[15:39] Speaker 4: three maybe four in each language, and these are in
[15:42] Speaker 4: like bit questions. I want to know, like you just
[15:45] Speaker 4: threw one hundred seventeen pitches, are you what do you
[15:47] Speaker 4: feel today? And he would not. He just doesn't entertain
[15:50] Speaker 4: those He's just not built that way.
[15:53] Speaker 2: Tim says, most of what you know about show Hay
[15:56] Speaker 2: is limited to what Showhy is willing to tell you,
[16:00] Speaker 2: and it rarely leaves the realm of the ballpark, and
[16:02] Speaker 2: when it does, it's on show Hay's terms. Like when
[16:06] Speaker 2: he got married, people didn't even know show Hay was
[16:08] Speaker 2: in a relationship until he posted about his wife on Instagram.
[16:12] Speaker 2: He has lots of.
[16:13] Speaker 5: Titles MVP, Gazillionaire, Superstar, but the husband had eluded him
[16:19] Speaker 5: until now, and he made the announcement where else but
[16:21] Speaker 5: on social media that reads, not only have I begun
[16:24] Speaker 5: a new chapter in my career with the Dodgers, but
[16:26] Speaker 5: I also have begun a new life with someone from
[16:29] Speaker 5: my native.
[16:30] Speaker 1: Country of Japan, who is very special to me.
[16:32] Speaker 2: And I wanted everyone to know I am now married
[16:36] Speaker 2: show He's teammates and even Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't
[16:39] Speaker 2: know about it, and I felt like it was a
[16:44] Speaker 2: good time because before the season I didn't want really
[16:47] Speaker 2: any distraction.
[16:48] Speaker 4: The season started, I think there is this this sort
[16:52] Speaker 4: of the aura, right like just leave him alone to
[16:55] Speaker 4: do what he does because the distractions are not something
[16:59] Speaker 4: he's in. He's not interested in talking to me, to
[17:02] Speaker 4: be honest, he does it as an obligation. After he pitches,
[17:06] Speaker 4: he hits two home runs in a game, he'll stand
[17:08] Speaker 4: there and answer questions in the most anadyne way possible.
[17:12] Speaker 4: Are you nervous at all? Playing in the postseason for
[17:14] Speaker 4: the first time?
[17:19] Speaker 2: But the league, the teams, and the fans don't seem
[17:22] Speaker 2: to mind not knowing much about show his life off
[17:24] Speaker 2: the field because what's happening on the field is record
[17:28] Speaker 2: breaking strikeout.
[17:30] Speaker 4: He's really challenged our idea of limits because he has
[17:33] Speaker 4: shown his talent to be limitless. He does the two
[17:37] Speaker 4: things that excite baseball people more than anything else. Well
[17:40] Speaker 4: Tony Dios take called strike three. He can throw a
[17:44] Speaker 4: baseball over one hundred miles an hour, and he can
[17:46] Speaker 4: hit a ball five hundred feet over the roof. It's
[17:50] Speaker 4: like the two headline acts of baseball. He is among
[17:55] Speaker 4: the best in the world at both, if not the best.
[17:59] Speaker 3: There goes it's a leadoff home run after he struck
[18:04] Speaker 3: out three at the top of the first.
[18:06] Speaker 4: He is a dream from Major League.
[18:08] Speaker 2: Baseball and the Dodgers rewarded him in the fall of
[18:12] Speaker 2: twenty twenty three with a record breaking contract. It is
[18:15] Speaker 2: the announcement that took the baseball world by storm today.
[18:18] Speaker 4: Seven hundred million dollars out over ten years. Oh my goodness,
[18:23] Speaker 4: come on.
[18:23] Speaker 2: One of the league's premier franchises made a historic bet
[18:30] Speaker 2: on show Hey. Because they knew his success would be
[18:34] Speaker 2: their success. They stood to make a lot of money too,
[18:37] Speaker 2: ticket sales, merchandise partnerships show His success could pay off
[18:42] Speaker 2: big time for the Dodgers. In MLB, Show Hey himself
[18:46] Speaker 2: makes more than one hundred and twenty five million dollars
[18:49] Speaker 2: in endorsements a year, with much of that money coming
[18:53] Speaker 2: from advertisements. In Japan.
[18:55] Speaker 4: When I was there, I was shocked by you could
[18:58] Speaker 4: literally not walk more than two blocks in Tokyo without
[19:01] Speaker 4: seeing his face on something, whether it was a green
[19:04] Speaker 4: tea or a water sports drink, or Hugo Boss or something.
[19:10] Speaker 4: I mean, everywhere is Otani.
[19:12] Speaker 1: After touching down in Tokyo, it's easy to see Otani
[19:15] Speaker 1: Mania is.
[19:16] Speaker 2: Really a thing. Everyone in Japan is by default a
[19:21] Speaker 2: show Hey fan.
[19:24] Speaker 4: The appetite for Otani, the love for Otani, appears to
[19:28] Speaker 4: be as limitless as his talent.
[19:30] Speaker 2: If show his reputation takes a hit, it wouldn't just
[19:33] Speaker 2: turnish his name. It would have devastating consequences for the Dodgers,
[19:37] Speaker 2: for major League Baseball, in for Japan.
[19:44] Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed what you heard,
[19:47] Speaker 1: you can binge all six episodes of the Betrayal of
[19:50] Speaker 1: Sho Heo Tani on the thirty for thirty podcast speed
[19:53] Speaker 1: or by searching the Betrayal of show Heyo Tani on
[19:56] Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get
[20:00] Speaker 1: your podcasts. I hope you enjoyed this podcast as much
[20:03] Speaker 1: as I do.

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