Mathew Bowyer, Ippei Mizuhara’s bookie pleads GUILTY in Shohei Ohtani’s $17 million betting scandal

New updates on Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara’s gambling case.

Mathew Bowyer, Ippei Mizuhara’s bookie pleads GUILTY in Shohei Ohtani’s $17 million betting scandal

Ippei Mizuhara and Shohei Ohtani [Image Credit: Imago]

Mathew Bowyer, Ippei Mizuhara’s bookie pleads guilty to three federal charges in the gambling case. The decree was announced on Thursday according to the justice department. He is expected to plead guilty to money laundering, operating a money laundering business, and showing off a false tax return. 

Bowyer is expected to show up in court on August 9. His main business was located in Southern California as per reports. His illegal betting business came to light when Ippei Mizuhara was charged guilty of stealing nearly $17 million from Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.

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Ohtani worked with Mizuhara for a long time, and despite claims that he was aware of his former interpreter’s betting addiction, the superstar revealed that he did not know anything in this matter. Ohtani even stated that he came to know of the stealing when news about it reached the clubhouse.

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In the recent plea agreement, Mathew Bowyer admitted to taking millions of dollars from the Japanese baseball star via Mizuhara to run his longstanding bookmaking operations. Shockingly it was revealed that Ippei Mizuhara won over $142 million, and lost bets of $183 million during betting. He also owned the bookie of $40 million overall.

The agreement stated that Bowyer had over “700 bettors at times”, sometimes carrying “well over $2,000 on a single day”. It was reported that one professional baseball player from Southern California was also involved, including another former baseballer in the minor league.

According to reports, Bowyer can very well face 10 years of jail time for money laundering, up to 5 years for illegal gambling business, and up to 3 years for false tax return count. Bowyer’s attorney Diane Bass said her client is willing to “accepting responsibility for his actions.”

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Messages between Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer revealed

A series of text messages between Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer was released where it was noted how the bookie was slowly pressuring the former interpreter to bet more dollars regularly. A person identified as “Bookmaker 1”, whose details match with Bowyer’s business continued to pressure Mizuhara and even threatened him to reveal everything if he did not listen.

Ippei Mizuhara
Ippei Mizuhara (Image via Imago)

In a 2023 text message “Bookmaker 1” stated,

Hey Ippie, it’s 2 o’clock on Friday. I don’t know why you’re not returning my calls. I’m here in Newport Beach and I see [Ohtani] walking his dog. I’m just gonna go up and talk to him and ask how I can get in touch with you since you’re not responding? Please call me back immediately.
As per Brittny Mejia and Nathan Fenmo of LA Times.

The messages showed how the pressure kept increasing day in and day out. Further in 2024 January, a text revealed,

You’re putting me in a position where this is going to get out of control. If I don’t hear from you by the end of the day it’s gonna be out of my hands.
As per Brittny Mejia and Nathan Fenmo of LA Times.

Ippei Mizuhara was charged guilty on June 4. He is said to be sentenced on October 25 for stealing $17 million approx. from Shohei Ohtani. After an investigation into the case, Ohtani was claimed to be a victim of fraud. 

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