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Tisha Thompson, ESPN
The illegal bookmaker at the center of the sports betting scandal focused on Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, will plead guilty next week to bookmaking and money laundering charges, according to court records unsealed by federal prosecutors Thursday.
Prosecutors charged Mathew Bowyer, 49, with operating an unlawful gambling business, money laundering and filing a false tax return on June 21, according to a plea agreement and charging documents filed in U.S. District Court for Central District of California.
“Mr. Bowyer is looking forward to accepting responsibility for his actions,” Diane Bass, Bowyer’s attorney, said in a statement Thursday to ESPN.
Bowyer will plead guilty on Aug. 9, according to a news release from prosecutors. A spokesman declined to offer any additional comment.
Until now, Bowyer’s legal proceedings were sealed as prosecutors continue their wide-ranging federal probe of Southern California bookmakers and their connections to Las Vegas casinos.
The records released Thursday confirm for the first time that Bowyer has been the subject of a federal investigation. ESPN first reported that Bowyer was under investigation in March.
As part of his plea deal, Bowyer admitted to receiving more than $4 million in unreported income in 2022, and to falsely reporting that his taxable income was $607,897. Bowyer knew his income was “substantially higher than that amount” because he ran a sportsbook that “involved at least five persons” and had a “gross revenue of more than $2,000 in a single day.” Prosecutors noted Bowyer also violated California state law prohibiting bookmaking.
Because more than five people were involved, Bowyer could face a more severe punishment. He faces a maximum sentence of 18 years in prison, but by pleading guilty, he will most likely receive less.
Judge John W. Holcomb will make the final determination, according to court documents. Holcomb is the same judge scheduled to deliver Mizuhara’s sentence on Oct. 25.
Mizuhara placed at least 19,000 bets with Bowyer’s illegal gambling business, according to prosecutors.
According to documents, Mizuhara was one of at least 700 bettors who used Bowyer’s sportsbook, which operated in California and Nevada. Prosecutors had previously reported the number to be more than 600. The Bowyer operation used a call center and websites based in Costa Rica to create accounts for clients, the plea documents said.
Bowyer operated the business from locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties and in Las Vegas, and he employed agents and sub-agents “who were paid a portion of the losses that bettors incurred and paid.”
According to the filing, Bowyer instructed Mizuhara to make at least $1.25 million in payments to one bank account, and another $15 million to a different bank account operated by one of Bowyer’s associates.
Bowyer “transferred or directed the transfer” of at least $9.3 million to “Casino A,” identified to ESPN by multiple sources as Resorts World Las Vegas, where he lost at least $4 million, while reality television star Ryan Boyajian lost at least $1.6 million, gambling at the casino.
In May, ESPN detailed how payments from Ohtani’s bank account were sent to another bank account owned by Boyajian, described as “Associate 1” in the federal government’s criminal complaint against Mizuhara. According to multiple sources, Boyajian forwarded Ohtani’s money to his casino account at Resorts World, where he and Bowyer withdrew chips for gambling. If they won, they cashed out.
Steven Katzman, Boyajian’s criminal attorney, said his client is “not a bookmaker or a sub-bookie.” Multiple sources told ESPN in May that Boyajian received immunity for his cooperation in the investigation.
A Resorts World spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The resort previously told ESPN it was cooperating with the investigation.
Multiple sources told ESPN that while federal agents had been investigating Bowyer since at least October, it wasn’t until ESPN began asking questions about wire transfers from Ohtani’s bank account that Bowyer’s involvement with Mizuhara came under scrutiny.
Soon after ESPN published its findings in March, including two conflicting interviews by Mizuhara detailing how some of the bets were made and then repaid, federal agents charged Mizuhara with bank fraud. Mizuhara pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani’s bank account on June 4.
Federal agents intercepted Mizuhara at LAX airport and took possession of his phone, which revealed a series of text messages with Bowyer’s organization.
In addition to Mizuhara, referred to Bowyer’s plea agreement as “I.M.,” the filing also mentions two other bettors with Bowyer’s organization: “Individual B,” a professional baseball player for a Southern California baseball club and “Individual C,” a former minor league baseball player. Individual B bet on basketball, football and hockey, according to the filing, while Individual C bet on a variety of sports, including baseball games in which Individual B played.