his translator lied about parts of his resume, the rumor his translator went to a casino dealer trade school, and Ohtani turning over everything to the FBI all make me believe that he was duped than I did at first.

It sounds like ESPN’s initial report came straight from his translator which would explain the mix up.

At first I thought Ippei really looked like the fall guy, but now I’m not so sure. If reports that no bets were placed on baseball are correct then he probably wasn’t looking at very much punishment anyway as previous punishment for using an illegal bookie hasn’t resulted in anything more than a fine.