Bookie for Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter will plead guilty to illegal gambling charges

LOS ANGELES — An Orange County bookie whose clients included Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges for running an illegal gambling business.

Mathew Bowyer, 49, was charged in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana with operating an unlawful gambling business, money laundering, and subscribing to a false tax return as part of a plea agreement unsealed Wednesday.

The agreement said Bowyer’s gambling business had “more than 700 bettors at times” and “often had gross revenue of well over $2,000 on a single day.” Customers included a “professional baseball player for a Southern California baseball club” and a “former minor league baseball player.” Neither player was named.

Bowyer is expected to enter his plea on Aug. 9, federal authorities said, and could face up to 10 years in prison on the money laundering count, up to five years for the unlawful gambling business count and up to three years for the false tax return count. He has agreed to “cooperate fully,” authorities said.

Diane Bass, Bowyer’s attorney, said her client “is looking forward to accepting responsibility for his actions.”

According to the plea agreement, Bowyer operated an illegal bookmaking business for at least five years until October 2023.

Bowyer sat atop an organization with many employees, the agreement said, including casino hosts who received a portion of the losses that bettors paid. Bowyer sometimes operated the business while he gambled at a Las Vegas casino — occasionally paying his agents commission in chips.

Bowyer’s best-known client was Mizuhara, the Japanese-language interpreter and “de facto manager” of Ohtani.

The Dodgers All-Star has denied any knowledge of the gambling. Law enforcement officials have said they consider Ohtani a victim.

Mizuhara pleaded guilty on June 4 to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. He admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts and will be sentenced on Oct. 25.

According to Bowyer’s agreement, Mizuhara placed at least 19,000 bets with Bowyer’s illegal gambling business over nearly three years.

From September 2021 to January 2024, Mizuhara had total winning bets of at least $142 million and total losing bets of nearly $183 million — leaving him owing the bookie around $40 million.

In his plea agreement, Bowyer admitted that in 2022 he reported $607,897 in total income when, in reality, he made more than $4 million. Bowyer owes additional taxes of $1.6 million for that year, not including interest and penalties, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Bowyer will forfeit $257,923 in U.S. currency and $14,830 in casino chips seized by law enforcement in October 2023, as part of the agreement.