Bookmaker to plead guilty in case tied to Shohei Ohtani's ex-interpreter - 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 sports book 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