The tip arrived two weeks ago, and it threatened to engulf Major League Baseball’s biggest star, Shohei Ohtani, in scandal. The name of the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger and pitcher had surfaced in a federal investigation of illegal sports gambling — millions of dollars in payments were allegedly made from his bank account to an illicit bookmaker. As The Times investigated the tip and began to assemble a story, Ohtani’s representatives scrambled behind the scenes to head it off.
Ohtani is expected to supplement his salary with an estimated $65 million in commercial endorsements this year, according to the sports business website Sportico. A spokeswoman for CAA declined to answer questions on the record about whether the organization had any role in managing his finances. The Times emailed numerous written questions to Brettler last week and has received no reply. The paper sent similar queries to MLB with the same result.