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Authored by Lowell Kulas

Bookie in Shohei Ohtanis interpreter case reaches plea agreemen

The bookmaker at the center of the scandal involving Shohei Ohtanis longtime former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has agreed to plea guilty to three federal chargers, the justice department announced Thursday. Mathew Bowyer, who operated a bookmaking busine s out of Southern California, is expected to plead guilty on Aug. 9 to charges of money laundering, operating Mike Mussina Jersey a money laundering and subscribing to a false tax return. Mizuhara admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from the Dodgers superstar and . Shohei Ohtani (left) and his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, in December of 2023. REUTERS His gambling habits were staggering. From September 2021 to January 2024, Mizuhara placed at least 19,000 bets with Bowyers illegal gambling busine s 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 Mizuharas betting limits, the justice department said in its release. Explore More From February 2022 to January 2024, Bowyer directed Mizuhara to make payments of at least $16.25 million to Bowyer-controlled bank accounts, all of which were proceeds of Bowyers illegal gambling busine s. Of these illegal proceeds, Bowyer transferred or directed the transfer of least $9.3 million to a casino in the form of wire transfers as payment for markers for Bowyer and his a sociates. Bowyer faces a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in prison on the money laundering count, plus up to eight years on the other charges. When the scandal first broke in March, Ohtani was for him and denied knowledge of the scope of the former interpreters gambling activities. Ippei Mizuhara, center, the former interpreter for the Dodgers Shohei Ohtani, leaves federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., Tuesday, June 4, 2024, after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud in a sports betting case. AP I do want to make it clear that I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker, Ohtani said, through his new interpreter. Mizuhara has repeatedly denied that he ever bet on baseball. Greg Allen Jersey

Bookie in Shohei Ohtanis interpreter case reaches plea agreemen 63 Bytes
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