An Orange County bookmaker whose clients included Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of running an illegal gambling business.
Mathew Bowyer, 49, was charged in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana with operating an illegal gambling business, money laundering and subscribing to a false tax return as part of a plea agreement unsealed Wednesday.
The agreement said Bowyer’s bookmaking business had “more than 700 bettors at times” and “often had gross receipts of more than $2,000 in 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 plead guilty on Aug. 9, according to federal authorities, and could face up to 10 years in prison on the money laundering charge, up to five years on the illegal gambling enterprise charge and up to three years on the false tax return charge. He has agreed to “fully cooperate,” authorities said.
Bowyer's attorney, Diane Bass, said her client “is eager to accept responsibility for his actions.”
According to the plea agreement, Bowyer operated an illegal gambling business for at least five years through October 2023.
Bowyer ran an organization with many employees, according to the agreement, including casino hosts who received a cut of losses paid by gamblers. Bowyer sometimes operated the business while playing at a Las Vegas casino, occasionally paying his agents a commission in chips.
Bowyer's best-known client was Mizuhara, the Japanese interpreter and Ohtani's “de facto manager.”
The Dodgers' star player has denied any knowledge of the betting. Law enforcement officials have said they consider Ohtani a victim.
On June 4, Mizuhara pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of filing a false tax return. He admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay gambling debts and will be sentenced on Oct. 25.
According to the settlement with Bowyer, Mizuhara placed at least 19,000 bets in Bowyer's illegal gambling business over nearly three years.
From September 2021 through January 2024, Mizuhara had total winning bets of at least $142 million and total losing bets of nearly $183 million, leaving him with a debt to the bookmaker of around $40 million.
In his plea agreement, Bowyer admitted that he reported total income of $607,897 in 2022 when he actually earned more than $4 million. Bowyer owes an additional $1.6 million in taxes for that year, not including interest or 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 police in October 2023 as part of the deal.
