By JIMMY GOLEN

A Hawaii real estate investor and broker are suing Shohei Ohtani, claiming the Los Angeles 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 in to endorse.

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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.

The suit accuses Ohtani and Balelo of tortious interference and unjust enrichment. Hayes, a developer with 40 years of experience, and Matsumoto, who was to be the listing agent for the houses averaging $17.3 million each, say that Ohtani and Balelo also tried to undermine their interests in a second, neighboring venture.

A spokesman for Balelo’s agency, CAA Baseball, declined comment. Attempts to reach Kingsbarn officials for comment were not immediately successful.

“This case is about abuse of power,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants used threats and baseless legal claims to force a business partner to betray its contractual obligations and strip Plaintiffs of the very project they conceived and built.

“Defendants must be held accountable for their actions, not shielded by fame or behind-the-scenes agents acting with impunity. Plaintiffs bring this suit to expose Defendants’ misconduct and to ensure that the rules of contract, fair dealing, and accountability apply equally to all — celebrity or not.”

Ohtani, 31, arrived from Japan in 2018 as perhaps the most heralded international star in baseball history, with an ability to both pitch and hit that made him doubly valuable to his team. A five-time All-Star and three-time Most Valuable Player, he signed a record 10-year, $700-million contract with the Dodgers before last season and helped the team win the 2024 World Series.

Investment materials for The Vista at Mauna Kea Resort, which remained online on Monday night, listed Hayes and Matsumoto as part of the management team, along with Kingsbarn. It called Ohtani “Japan’s Babe Ruth” and the “1st Resident,” giving him top billing ahead of the iconic Mauna Kea Resort, “one of the most celebrated hotels in Hawaii,” Hapuna Beach, “rated the #1 beach in America by Conde Nast Traveler” and two golf courses – one designed by Arnold Palmer, the other by Robert Trent Jones Sr.

“Ohtani will act as the celebrity spokesperson for the project and has committed to purchasing one of the 14 residences within the project,” the brochure says. “He also intends to spend significant time at The Vista in the off-season and will construct a small hitting and pitching facility for preseason training.”

The suit says the developers spent 11 years working on the deal and “as part of a bold marketing strategy” signed an endorsement deal in 2023 with Ohtani, “one of the most high-profile endorsements imaginable.”

“This partnership with Ohtani will elevate the demand and create buzz within the Japanese luxury vacation home market, which is a primary target audience for the project,” the investment brochure said. “We see Shohei Ohtani’s homeownership as having a significant impact on the global exposure of the project and expect to accelerate the pace of sales, thereby helping us achieve our pricing objectives.”

The suit said Balelo “quickly became a disruptive force,” threatening to pull Ohtani from the deal if concessions weren’t made.

“Kingsbarn began capitulating to Balelo’s every whim,” the suit said. “Over time, it became increasingly obvious that Kingsbarn was more concerned about preserving its relationship with (Ohtani) than honoring its obligations to its business partners.”

Last month, in what the suit called “a coordinated ambush,” Kingsbarn fired Hayes and Matsumoto.

“Kingsbarn openly admitted during the call that Balelo had demanded the terminations and that they were being done solely to placate him,” the suit said. “Plaintiffs stand to lose millions of dollars in compensation tied to projected homebuilding profit, construction management fees, and broker commissions.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

By BILL BARROW and NADIA LATHAN

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republican leaders said Tuesday that they were prepared to end their stalemated special session and immediately begin another standoff with Democrats in the GOP’s efforts to redraw congressional maps as directed by President Donald Trump.

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It’s the latest indication that Trump’s push to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections will become an extended standoff that promises to reach multiple statehouses controlled by both major parties.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows confirmed the plans during a brief session Tuesday morning that marked another failure to meet the required attendance standards to conduct official business because dozens of Democrats have left the state to stymie the GOP’s partisan gerrymandering attempts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Burrows said from the House floor that lawmakers will not attempt to reconvene again until Friday. If Democrats are still absent — and they have given no indication that they plan to return — the speaker said Republicans will end the current session and Gov. Greg Abbott will immediately call another.

The governor, a Trump ally, confirmed his intentions in a statement.

“The Special Session #2 agenda will have the exact same agenda, with the potential to add more items critical to Texans,” Abbott wrote. “There will be no reprieve for the derelict Democrats who fled the state and abandoned their duty to the people who elected them. I will continue to call special session after special session until we get this Texas first agenda passed.”

FILE – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Abbott called the current session with an extensive agenda that included disaster relief for floods that killed more than 130 people. Democrats balked when Abbott added Trump’s redistricting idea to the agenda. Burrows on Tuesday did not mention redistricting but chided Democrats for not showing up for debate on the flood response package.

The redistricting legislation would reshape the state’s congressional districts in a design aimed at sending five more Republicans to Washington.

The scheme is part of Trump’s push to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority and avoid a repeat of his first presidency, when the 2018 midterms restored Democrats to a House majority that blocked his agenda and twice impeached him. Current maps nationally put Democrats within three seats of retaking the House majority — with only several dozen competitive districts across 435 total seats.

Texas Republicans have issued civil warrants for the absent Democrats. Because they are out of state, those lawmakers are beyond the reach of Texas authorities.

Burrows said Tuesday that absent Democrats would have to pay for all state government costs for law enforcement officials attempting to track them down. Burrows has said state troopers and others have run up “six figures in overtime costs” trying to corral Democratic legislators.

Barrow reported from Atlanta.

GENEVA (AP) — A U.N.-backed investigator says his team has turned up significant evidence of “systemic torture” in Myanmar’s detention centers, including electric shocks, strangulations, gang rape and burning of sexual body parts over the last year.

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Nicholas Koumjian was speaking as the international independent team he heads released its latest annual report on Tuesday, focusing on a one-year period running through June 30.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, triggering a civil war. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, and large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict.

The team said it has made advances in identifying security personnel involved in operations at the detention facilities and “perpetrators who have summarily executed captured combatants or civilians accused of being informers.” Perpetrators included security forces, affiliated militias and opposition armed groups, it said.

The report “details the documented torture in Myanmar’s detention facilities which includes beatings, electric shocks, strangulations, gang rape, burning of sexual body parts and other forms of sexual violence,” a summary of its findings said.

“Our report highlights a continued increase in the frequency and brutality of atrocities committed in Myanmar,” Koumjian said. “We are working towards the day when the perpetrators will have to answer for their actions in a court of law.”

“We have uncovered significant evidence, including eyewitness testimony, showing systematic torture in Myanmar detention facilities,” he said.

His team has opened new investigations into atrocities committed against communities in Rakhine state as the military and the opposition force known as the Arakan Army battle for control of the territory.

More than 700,000 people from the Rohingya minority fled to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 to escape persecution in Myanmar. About 70,000 others crossed the border last year when the Arakan Army effectively took over Rakhine.

The Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar has been working since 2018 under a mandate from the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council to help document rights abuses and violations in the country.

It has shared evidence with authorities looking into cases involving the Rohingya at the International Criminal Court and the U.N.’s International Court of Justice.

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT

GENEVA (AP) — Environmentalists and Indigenous leaders held signs Tuesday in front of the United Nations buildings in Geneva, where talks for a global accord to end plastic pollution are taking place, asking nations to show courage and agree to a strong treaty.

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Most were from organizations that are part of the Break Free From Plastic movement. They said they wanted their voices to be heard as the talks wind down in Switzerland. Nations are crafting the first global, legally binding treaty on plastics pollution.

“We’ve invested a lot into coming all the way to Geneva, away from our communities, away from our families, because we understand how important an issue this is and how crucial a moment this is,” said Juressa Lee, who is from New Zealand and was representing the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime plastics treaty.”

They urged delegates to vote on the treaty if consensus can’t be reached and the process becomes paralyzed. Every nation must agree for any proposal to be included in the treaty.

The talks are scheduled to conclude Thursday.

“To date the process has been broken,” said Brett Nadrich, spokesperson from Break Free From Plastic. “Civil society leaders from around the world, together with those most impacted, are speaking with a unified voice that we need to show courage, not compromise, and fix the process.”

The head of Panama’s delegation to the talks, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, cheered them on as he walked by.

“We need that all over the world,” he told The Associated Press. “We need people outside of here to tell their countries to speak up for what it is that they’re standing for. Are they standing for them, their citizens, or big oil?”

The biggest issue is whether the treaty should impose caps on producing new plastic or focus instead on things like better design, recycling and reuse. Panama is helping to lead an effort to include plastic production in the treaty.

“We’re going to be pushing until the end,” Monterrey Gomez said. “Because if there is no production, there’s no treaty.”

Magnus Heunicke, the Danish environment minister, and Jessika Roswall, the European commissioner for the environment, held a news conference to stress the European Union is in Geneva to get a legally binding, international agreement on how plastic is produced, consumed and disposed. Denmark holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe.

“We are here to make a deal, our aim is to make it as ambitious as possible,” Heunicke said. “If it was only up to the EU, then we all know how high ambitious it would be. It is not, however, up to the EU.”

Heunicke didn’t specify what they would do if plastic production isn’t in the treaty, since the negotiations are ongoing. Roswall said the EU is ready to deal, though not at any cost, and in any negotiation all parties always have the option to walk away.

Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Powerful oil-producing nations are strongly opposed to including plastic production in the treaty. So is the plastics industry.

“The negotiators need to focus on ending plastic pollution in the environment,” said Chris Jahn, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council. “If they do that, there is a landing zone and a deal is possible. If we try to address every single issue that every single country has, they will not reach a deal here.”

Momentum has been growing for a proposal led by Mexico and Switzerland for an article to address problematic plastic products, including single-use plastics, and chemicals.

Camila Zepeda, who is leading negotiations on that article for Mexico, said there is an understanding there are harmful additives contained in plastics and some plastics not essential for everyday life that could be managed and eventually phased out.

Tuesday’s sessions are “very intense” as negotiators work against the clock, Zepeda said.

“It’s slow progress,” she said. “But hopefully we still manage to get an agreement. I do see an appetite to finish and to get an outcome here at Geneva.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.