Shohei Ohtani Settles Claims He Bullied Broker And Developer Off Hawaii Project
Shohei Ohtani has one less thing to worry about as he comes to bat for Japan at the World Baseball Classic this month.
The baseball phenom and his agent, Nez Balelo, settled a lawsuit accusing the pair of using the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar’s fame as leverage to force capital partners out of a planned $240M residential project on Hawaii’s Big Island.
The deal, first reported by TMZ, comes as Ohtani leads Japan closer to repeating a WBC championship run this month. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed.
Developer Kevin Hayes and real estate broker Tomoko Matsumoto filed the suit in August, alleging that Ohtani and his agent began demanding new concessions after signing on to endorse a 14-unit luxury home project called The Vista at Mauna Kea Resort.
The baseball star and his agent eventually pressured the other capital partner on the project, Las Vegas-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital, to drop Hayes and Matsumoto from the project. The pair say they spent more than a decade planning the development before bringing in Ohtani for a celebrity endorsement in 2023.
The case was dismissed with prejudice and the settlement covered all of the suits’ claims, according to court documents reviewed by TMZ.
Ohtani and Balelo filed a motion to dismiss the suit in September, arguing that Ohtani’s name, image and likeness were used to drive traffic to another project in violation of their agreement.
“They engaged in this self-dealing without authorization, and without paying Ohtani for that use, in a selfish and wrongful effort to take advantage of their proximity to the most famous baseball player in the world,” Ohtani’s attorneys wrote, according to the New York Post.
A press release from April 2024 announcing The Vista at Mauna Kea Resort heavily promoted Ohtani as a resident of the 17-acre property, with units ranging from $17M to $20M. The project’s website also included Ohtani before being scrubbed after the August suit was filed.
“Here, I found my own paradise,” Ohtani said in a statement when the project was announced.
Ohtani and Balelo were accused of organizing “a coordinated ambush” to boot Hayes and Matsumoto from the project, with the spurned investors complaining in court filings that Kingsbarn Realty Capital was more concerned with its relationship with Ohtani than its contractual obligations.
The status of The Vista development is unclear. The website promoting the Mauna Kea homes, which flank a golf course, no longer lists the project on a map of its larger multiphase development. A portion of the map that was once labeled "The Vista" is now labeled as a "future development."
