The illegal bookie who took bets from Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter was sentenced to just over a year in prison on Friday.
Mathew Bowyer was given a prison sentence of 12 months and one day after pleading guilty in August 2024 to running an illegal gambling business, money laundering, and filing a false tax return.
U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb also ordered Bowyer, 50, to attend gambling addiction counseling.
Holcomb said that Bowyer’s tax return crime “is significant and needs to be taken into account” and added that “justice demands there be some custody time.”
Prior to Bowyer’s sentencing, prosecutors said in a court filing that they went with a lighter sentence for Bowyer because of his assistance with the conviction of Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s former interpreter, along with another bookie.
Bowyer’s attorney, Diane Bass, initially asked Judge Holcomb to give him house arrest, citing his gambling addiction recovery and that he did not know Mizuhara was taking from Ohtani.
“He did not think he was taking advantage of anyone,” Bass said. “We didn’t know it was going to be a high-profile case… then all of a sudden there is this huge media interest.”
However, assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Williams pointed out Bowyer’s interactions with the media, where he talked about Mizuhara, saying that his case was not “simply about an addict who got into trouble.”
“He’s going out and talking to news media, talking about Mr. Mizuhara, the business he was in, there is a certain amount of notoriety that he is enjoying,” Williams said in court.
According to court filings, Bowyer had over 700 clients and first met Mizuhara back in 2021 in San Diego.
Between December 2021 and January 2024, Mizuhara placed at least 19,000 bets, losing almost $41 million and stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off debts.
In an interview with ESPN, Bowyer said that it took him just a month to realize that Mizuhara was a problem gambler, citing how often and the types of bets he was placing.
“He definitely was betting all night long, all the time,” Bowyer told the outlet. “I’ve never seen anything like it. $100,000 on a draw, Ukraine vs. Turkey. $100,000 on Saudi Arabia.”
Mizuhara is serving a 57-month sentence after pleading guilty earlier this year.