LOS ANGELES
An Orange County man has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges for running an illegal gambling business with hundreds of betters
Mathew R. Bowyer took in unlawful sports bets, including from then-current and former professional athletes as well as a former Major League Baseball (MLB) Japanese-language interpreter currently facing prison time.
Bowyer, 49, of San Juan Capistrano, has agreed to plead guilty to operating an unlawful gambling business, money laundering, and subscribing to a false tax return.
Bowyer is expected to plead guilty to the charges on August 9. He is facing up to 18 years in prison.
According to his plea agreement, Bowyer operated an unlicensed and illegal bookmaking business that focused on sports betting and violated a California law that prohibited bookmaking.
Bowyer’s gambling business remained in operation for at least five years until October 2023 and, sometimes, had more than 700 bettors.
He operated this business out of various locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties, as well as in Las Vegas. Bowyer also employed agents and sub-agents, including casino hosts, who worked for his illegal gambling business and were paid a portion of the losses that bettors incurred.
His unlawful business used several Costa Rica-based websites and a call center so agents and customers could place and track bets. At times, Bowyer operated his illegal business while gambling at a casino—identified in court documents as “Casino”A”—and sometimes paid his agents commission in Casino A chips.
One of Bowyer’s clients was Ippei Mizuhara, who pleaded guilty on June 4 to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. Mizuhara was the Japanese-language interpreter and de facto manager of MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Mizuhara admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts and failing to pay tax on his gambling income. Law enforcement considers Ohtani a victim. Mizuhara’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 25.
From September 2021 to January 2024, Mizuhara placed at least 19,000 bets on Bowyer’s illegal gambling business through one of the betting websites Bowyer used for it.
During this period, Mizuhara had total winning bets of at least $142,256,769, and total losing bets of at least $182,935,206, leaving Mizuhara owing approximately $40,678,436.
On a regular basis during this period, Bowyer would increase Mizuhara’s betting limits.
From February 2022 to January 2024, Bowyer directed Mizuhara to transfer at least $16.25 million from his illegal gambling business into Bowyer-controlled bank accounts. Of this amount, Bowyer transferred or directed the transfer of at least $9.3 million to a casino via wire transfers as payment for markers for himself and his associates.
Bowyer’s clients included “Individual B,” a professional baseball player for a Southern California team, and “Individual C,” a former minor-league baseball player.
In his plea agreement, Bowyer admitted to knowingly and willfully underreporting his taxable income to the IRS for the year 2022. He reported a total income of $607,897, but his actual income was $4,030,938, which included $3.8 million in unreported wire transfers from his illegal gambling business.
As a result of the false information Bowyer provided, he owes additional taxes of $1,613,280 for the tax year 2022, not including interest and penalties.
Upon pleading guilty, Bowyer faces up to 10 years in federal prison on the money laundering count, up to five years in federal prison for the unlawful gambling business count, and up to three years in federal prison for the false tax return count.
As part of his plea agreement, Bowyer will forfeit $257,923 in U.S. currency and $14,830 in casino chips seized by law enforcement in October 2023. He also has agreed to fully cooperate with federal prosecutors and investigators.
IRS Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating this matter.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel N. Agress and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominique Caamano of the Environmental Crimes and Consumer Protection Section are prosecuting this case.