SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – A Southern California bookmaker who took thousands in sports bets from an interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani pleaded guilty Friday to running an illegal gambling business.
Mathew Bowyer, 49, entered the plea in federal court in Santa Ana. He also pleaded guilty to money laundering and filing a false tax return. He is due to be sentenced on February 7.
Bowyer told the judge: “I was running an illegal gambling business, withdrawing money from other people’s bank accounts.
Federal prosecutors declined to comment after the hearing.
According to prosecutors, Bowyer ran an illegal gambling business for at least five years in Southern California and Las Vegas, and took money from more than 700 gamblers, including a former translator of Ohtani, Ippei Mizuhara.
Operating an unlicensed betting business is a federal crime. Meanwhile, sports gambling is illegal in California, as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing about $17 million from the bank account of Ohtani, who played for the Los Angeles Angels before signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year.
Federal investigators say Mizuhara, who is scheduled to be sentenced in October, made about 19,000 bets between September 2021 and January 2024. While Mizuhara’s winnings were more than $142 million, what he deposited into his bank account was not of Ohtani, losing his money was there. $183 million – a total loss of about $41 million.
Investigators found no evidence that Mizuhara had planted the baseball. Prosecutors said there was no evidence Ohtani was involved or aware of Mizuhara’s gambling, and the player, who is cooperating with investigators, is considered a victim.
Diane Bass, Bowyer’s attorney, said her client has never met Ohtani. According to federal sentencing guidelines, he said he believed his expected sentence would be 30 to 37 months. Federal prosecutors said in court that the maximum possible sentence would be two years. 18 in prison.
“Mr. Bowyer is very relieved to finally be able to accept responsibility for his behavior,” Bass told reporters outside court after the hearing. “He expects to receive his sentence so that he can forget this chapter and he and his family can move on with their lives.”
Federal prosecutors say Bowyer’s other clients include a Southern California baseball player and a former minor leaguer. None of them were identified by name in court records.
Bowyer’s guilty plea is the latest in a string of sports betting scandals this year, including one that led to Major League Baseball banning a player for life for the first time since Pete Rose was banned in 1989. In June, the league blocked San Diego Padres outfielder Tucupita Marcano for. life and suspended four other players for illegal baseball betting. Marcano became the first active player in a century to be banned for life for gambling.
Rose, whose playing days were over, agreed to his ban in 1989 after an investigation found that he placed multiple bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while he played and managed the team.
The league’s gambling policy prohibits players and team employees from gambling on baseball, even legally. MLB also prohibits betting on some sports by illegal or out-of-state bookies. The penalty is determined at the discretion of the commissioner’s office.
In the Mizuhara case, Bowyer was not named in the criminal complaint but appeared repeatedly as “Bookmaker 1.” Federal prosecutors declined to identify him, but Bass confirmed Friday that his client was being referred.
Mizuhara and Bowyer corresponded frequently, the court heard, and the conversations varied between friendly messages — Bowyer wished Mizuhara a “Merry Christmas” in early December 2022 — and threatening ones when the translator failed to pay. his debts on time.
At one point, Bowyer was unable to reach Mizuhara and threatened to approach Ohtani, who was identified as “Victim A” in court.
“Hey Ippie, it’s two o’clock on Friday. I don’t know why you don’t return my calls. I’m here in Newport Beach and I see (Victim A) walking his dog,” the blogger wrote to Mizuhara on Nov. 17, 2023. “I’m going to go up and talk to him and ask how I can get in. affect you too since you don’t answer? Please call me right away.
The pair last corresponded on March 20, the day the Los Angeles Times and ESPN broke the news of the investigation.
“Did you see the reports?” Mizuhara wrote to Bowyer.
The bookmaker replied, “Yes,” adding, “Obviously you didn’t steal from him. I understand it’s a business.”
Mizuhara replied: “I stole from him cleverly. it is finished with me.”
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Dazio reports from Los Angeles.
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