SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (KABC) — An Orange County man accused of running the illegal sports-betting operation whose customers included Dodger star Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter has agreed to plead guilty to a trio of federal charges.
Mathew Bowyer, 49, of San Juan Capistrano, is expected to plead guilty next week to charges of operating an unlawful gambling business, money laundering and filing a false tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He’s scheduled to enter his plea on Aug. 9 in Santa Ana federal court.
One of Bowyer’s clients was Ippei Mizuhara, who stole nearly $17 million from Ohtani to feed what was described as a gambling addiction. Mizuhara pleaded guilty in June to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return.
Investigators said some of Bowyer’s other customers included “a professional baseball player for a Southern California-based baseball club” and “a former minor-league baseball player.”
Ohtani …