Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – A California bookmaker who took at least 19,000 bets from the former interpreter of Japanese baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on Friday. Mathew Bowyer, who pleaded guilty last August to operating an unlawful gambling business, money laundering, and subscribing to a false tax return, was also ordered to pay more than $1.6 million in restitution.
The case against the 50-year-old was part of a federal probe into illegal sports gambling that led to the arrest of Ippei Mizuhara — the former interpreter for Ohtani who admitted stealing almost $17 million from the Dodgers star to pay off illegal gambling debts. Mizuhara was sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay $18.1 million in restitution at his sentencing in February on charges of bank fraud and filing a false tax return.
Mizuhara’s involvement saw Ohtani — whose pitching and hitting skills have drawn comparisons to Babe Ruth — engulfed in scandal not long after he signed the richest contract in North American sports history, when he joined the Dodgers in 2023 on a deal worth $700 million. But prosecutors stressed throughout the case that Ohtani was an innocent victim of Mizuhara’s deception, and there was no evidence to suggest he was aware of or involved in illegal gambling.
According to court documents, Bowyer operated an unlicensed and illegal bookmaking business that focused on sports betting and violated California law. His gambling business remained in operation for at least five years until October 2023 and at times had more than 700 bettors. Mizuhara began placing bets with Bowyer after they met at a poker game in San Diego in 2021. Mizuhara went on to make at least 19,000 wagers between December 2021 and January 2024, and lost nearly $41 million.
“(Bowyer’s) crimes were not a single indiscretion, but instead a multi-year operation that raked in millions of dollars for (Bowyer) and his associates to gamble and live an extravagant lifestyle, often through the exploitation of people (Bowyer) recognized were addicted and extending themselves beyond their means,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Bowyer, who told US District Judge John W. Holcomb in court Friday that he was “remorseful,” could have faced a longer sentence, but prosecutors said his assistance helped authorities obtain convictions against Mizuhara and another California bookmaker.
© 2024 AFP
