Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo, allegedly got a real estate investor and a broker fired from their $240 million development in a luxury enclave on Hawaii island.
A civil complaint claims that a “calculated and unlawful scheme” was orchestrated by Balelo, on Ohtani’s behalf, to interfere with the “contractual rights and economic relationships” tied to a real estate development in the Mauna Kea Resort.
The 13-page civil action was filed Friday in Oahu Circuit Court by attorneys representing Kevin J. Hayes Sr. and Tomoko Matsumoto, West Point Investment Corp., and Hapuna Estates Property Owner LLC.
The complaint alleges interference with contractual and business relations and unjust enrichment. The suit was served Monday to Balelo and Ohtani’s Honolulu attorney handling the case, Randall C. Whattoff.
Balelo and a Dodgers spokesperson did not immediately reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment.
A spokesperson for Kingsbarn Realty Capital told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement that the allegations against “Shohei Ohtani and Nez Balelo are completely frivolous and without merit.”
“Kingsbarn takes full responsibility for its actions regarding Kevin Hayes and for removing Tomoko Matsumoto as the project’s broker. The Mauna Kea project is world class, and we look forward to welcoming our final group,” read the statement.
Large sections of the complaint are redacted, including what exactly Balelo allegedly tried to extract in the way of concessions and precisely how he and Ohtani persuaded Kingsbarn to push Hayes and Matsumoto out.
In April 2024 Ohtani entered into an endorsement deal with Hapuna Estates that allowed him to pick his 1.1-acre lot.
On that lot, Ohtani would pay for contractors to build a 5,000-square-foot home with ocean views overlooking the eighth hole of Arnold Palmer’s Hapuna Golf Course, according to The Wall Street Journal
Ohtani’s residency status as the first home buyer would be used to promote the project and lure other high-end homebuyers. Hapuna Estates has space for 166 homes and condominiums.
“I recently selected my lot in this new development, and I plan on building my home there in the near future that I will be able to enjoy for many years to come,” Ohtani told the Journal on April 17, 2024.
The high-end homes range in price from $4.5 million to $20 million.
“These are the highest properties at the Mauna Kea Resort and the views from the mountains along the Kohala Coast all the way to Maui are extraordinary,” read a description of the development on West Point’s website. “There are four parcels (available) from six to 17 acres and from $5-$16.5 million.”
Balelo and Ohtani were brought into the venture “solely for Ohtani’s promotional and branding value.”
“(Hayes and Matsumoto) made this investment in hopes that Otani’s star power would attract other high-net-worth individuals to purchase properties,” read the civil complaint.
The lawsuit alleges Ohtani and Balelo “exploited their celebrity leverage to destabilize and ultimately dismantle” Hayes and Matsumoto’s piece of the project “for no reason other than their own financial self-interest, according to state court records.
Balelo allegedly issued an ultimatum to Hayes and Matsumoto’s business partner, Kingsbarn Realty Capital LLC, demanding that Kingsbarn “remove Hayes and Matsumoto from the project or else face retaliatory litigation.”
Kingsbarn allegedly cut Hayes and Matsumoto “out of millions of dollars in economic entitlements,” and the pair had “no warning and no opportunity to properly respond” other than a brief phone call.
“This case is about abuse of power. (Balelo and Ohtani) used threats and baseless legal claims to force a business partner to betray its contractual obligations and strip (Hayes and Matsumoto) of the very project they conceived and built,” wrote Edmund K. Saffery, attorney for Hayes and Matsumoto.
Ohtani and Balelo “must be held accountable for their actions, not shielded by fame or behind-the-scenes agents acting with impunity, wrote Saffery.
The complaint alleges that as part of Hayes and Matsumoto’s marketing strategy, the pair negotiated and executed an agreement with Ohtani in 2023.
The hope was that the home being built for Ohtani and his endorsement of the venture would attract other wealthy investors to buy properties in Hayes and Matsumoto’s “Parcel F” project within the Mauna Kea Resort area.
Though not a party to the agreement, Balelo allegedly “inserted himself into every aspect of the relationship.” “He treated the Endorsement Agreement as a one-way street and responded to business matters with stonewalling or hostility,” Saffery wrote. “Whenever challenged, Balelo resorted to his go-to tactic: threat of default. On numerous occasions, (Hayes and Matsumoto) were told that unless they conceded to Balelo’s ever-increasing demands, Ohtani would walk away from the deal.”
In mid-2024, after a contractor’s estimate for Ohtani’s home came in high, Balelo allegedly became angry and had Hayes removed from overseeing construction of Ohtani’s home.
Exactly how he did that is redacted in the complaint.
Balelo allegedly accused Hayes and Matsumoto of misusing Ohtani’s name, image and likeness in their marketing materials.
Hayes and Matsumoto disagree, saying that Ohtani’s likeness was on the website for the project for 14 months before Balelo “weaponized” it to cut them out of the development deal.
During a July 17 phone call, Kingsbarn “openly admitted” that Balelo had demanded the terminations of Hayes and Matsumoto by threatening to drag Kingsbarn into a separate lawsuit.
Balelo allegedly threatened to sue on the pretext that they misused Ohtani’s name, image and likeness rights by including his image on a website promoting the Parcel F Project that also referenced Hapuna Estates’ other real estate venture in the Mauna Kea Resort.
“Kingsbarn stated that Balelo agreed to keep Kingsbarn out of the to-be-filed lawsuit only if it complied with his demands to terminate (Hayes and Matsumoto),” Saffery wrote.
Hayes and Matsumoto were allegedly let go “for cause” without Kingsbarn providing any factual basis for their dismissal. The aspects of the operating agreement that were allegedly breached are redacted in the complaint.
