Bookmaker for US baseball star Ohtani’s interpreter plans to plead guilty to federal charges
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Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani (left) with interpreter Ippei Mizuhara during a press conference.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LOS ANGELES – The California bookmaker at the centre of an explosive scandal involving the long-time interpreter of Major League Baseball star Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plead guilty to US federal charges that he ran an illegal sports gambling operation and cheated on taxes,
The bookmaker, Mathew Bowyer, 49, who lives in Orange County, is expected to plead guilty next week. Once he does, he could face a maximum sentence of more than a decade in prison.
Bowyer, who prosecutors said ran a sports-betting operation that resulted in more than US$4 million (S$5.3 million) in unreported income in 2022, will cooperate with the authorities as part of his plea agreement, prosecutors said. He has also agreed to forfeit about US$258,000 in cash and another US$14,800 in casino chips that the authorities seized in 2023 as part of their investigation.
Although sports betting is legal in many US states, including in Nevada where Bowyer did some business, it is illegal in California. And his business was unlicensed.
Among the more than 700 clients who placed bets through Bowyer’s operation were a professional baseball player for a Southern California-based team and a former minor league baseball player, prosecutors said.
But one of his highest-profile clients was Ippei Mizuhara, who had worked as the interpreter for baseball great Ohtani ever since he went to the United States to play for the Los Angeles Angels in 2018.
The Japanese phenom, who is considered one of the greatest players in baseball history for his hitting and pitching talent, joined the Los Angeles Dodgers this season after signing one of the most lucrative sports contracts ever.
Mizuhara was abruptly fired by the Dodgers in March after he was accused of stealing from the star. At first, the interpreter said the baseball player had agreed to cover his gambling losses, briefly casting a shadow over him at the start of the season.
Within days, Mizuhara acknowledged that he had actually stolen millions from him. In June, Mizuhara pleaded guilty to charges of fraud that involved the theft of almost US$17 million. NYTIMES
