Bookie in Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter case, reaches plea agreement

The bookmaker at the center of the scandal involving Shohei Ohtani’s longtime former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has agreed to plea guilty to three federal chargers, the justice department announced Thursday.

Mathew Bowyer, who operated a bookmaking business out of Southern California, is expected to plead guilty on Aug. 9 to charges of money laundering, operating a money laundering and subscribing to a false tax return.

Mizuhara admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from the Dodgers superstar and pleaded guilty in June to bank and tax fraud .

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His gambling habits were staggering.

“From September 2021 to January 2024, Mizuhara placed at least 19,000 bets with Bowyer’s illegal gambling business through one of the betting websites Bowyer used for it. During this period, Mizuhara had total winning bets of at least $142,256,769, and total losing bets of at least $182,935,206, leaving Mizuhara owing approximately $40,678,436. On a regular basis during this period, Bowyer would increase Mizuhara’s betting limits,” the justice department said in its release.

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“From February 2022 to January 2024, Bowyer directed Mizuhara to make payments of at least $16.25 million to Bowyer-controlled bank accounts, all of which were proceeds of Bowyer’s illegal gambling business. Of these illegal proceeds, Bowyer transferred or directed the transfer of least $9.3 million to a casino in the form of wire transfers as payment for markers for Bowyer and his associates.”

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Bowyer faces a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in prison on the money laundering count, plus up to eight years on the other charges.

When the scandal first broke in March, Ohtani was adamant that Mizuhara was not placing these bets as a proxy for him and denied knowledge of the scope of the former interpreter’s gambling activities.

“I do want to make it clear that I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker,” Ohtani said, through his new interpreter.

Mizuhara has repeatedly denied that he ever bet on baseball.

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