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Ohtani, agent sued over resort project
Los Angeles Times
|August 13, 2025
Dodgers star accused of helping disrupt a $240-million luxury venture in Hawaii.
RYAN SUN Associated Press
THE AGENCY FOR Nez Balelo, right, with Shohei Ohtani, declined to comment about the lawsuit.
A Hawaii real estate investor and broker are suing Shohei Ohtani, claiming the Dodgers’ star and his agent got them fired from a $240-million luxury housing development on the Big Island’s coveted Hapuna Coast that they brought him into endorse.
According to the lawsuit filed in Hawaii Circuit Court on Friday, Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, increasingly demanded concessions from developer Kevin J. Hayes Sr. and real estate broker Tomoko Matsumoto before demanding that their business partner, Kingsbarn Realty Capital, drop them from the deal.
“Balelo and [Ohtani], who were brought into the venture solely for [Ohtani’]s promotional and branding value, exploited their celebrity leverage to destabilize and ultimately dismantle Plaintiffs’ role in the project — for no reason other than their own financial self-interest,” the lawsuit claims.
This story is from the August 13, 2025 edition of Los Angeles Times.
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