Colin Cowherd Not Buying ‘Criminal Mastermind’ Lawsuit Against MLB’s Shohei Ohtani: ‘There’s a Lot of Grift Out There’

Colin Cowherd was relatively unamused by the news that Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani was named in a lawsuit in Hawaii.

The Athletic reported Tuesday that Ohtani and his agent — Nez Balelo — are being sued for their alleged involvement in a real estate scheme. According to the two Hawaii-based real estate developers, Ohtani and Balelo allegedly got them fired from a $240 million luxury housing project. The Japanese baseball star purchased a $17 million home in the development and was described as a “public-facing sponsor” of the project.

On Wednesday’s episode of The Herd, Cowherd explained why he believed it was simply another frivolous lawsuit filed against a celebrity:

So, there’s a lot of grifters out there that have always been trying to take advantage of musicians and celebrities and actors; ao when I see lawsuit against famous person, I don’t necessarily think famous persons in the wrong. Our president has had like 4,000 cases of litigation in his career. Some he’s right, some he’s wrong. There’s a lot of grifters out there. I mean, Elon Musk and Mark Cuban not only have attorneys on speed dial, but in their corporations, they have attorneys on staff. Fox has attorneys on staff. There’s a lot of grift out there.

The Fox Sports host went on to break down why Ohtani’s alleged role in the real estate scheme seemed implausible:

So here’s the other thing — that the lawsuit says the developer had worked on this project for 11 years. The company signs Ohtani two years ago for this project. So you’re telling me as Ohtani is helping the Dodgers win a World Series, he was a criminal mastermind in Hawaii?

The second part of this: he enters the project in the 11th hour, and he’s the reason it’s failing. Really? It’s an 11-year-old project. He enters solely to be the face of it. I don’t expect him to do the vetting work on this stuff. So, it can be a murky world. There’s not a lot of transparency. I took his side on the gambling; and, again, go to Reddit boards. I’m sure they’ll tell you they’ve got an inside source and a brother of a cousin in Orange County who knows what really happened. Congrats on that. Knock yourself out.

Watch above via Fox Sports 1