Matthew Bowyer, a bookmaker for Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, said he felt guilty for not stopping the interpreter from betting over his head and took action from Pete Rose in an exclusive Post interview.
This is the first time Bowyer has spoken to the media.
Former Ohtani Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara is facing a Feb. 6 sentencing in a Southern California federal court. Prosecutors are seeking 57 months and three years of supervised release and for him to pay back the roughly $17 million he allegedly stole from the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar. Mizuhara is asking for an 18-month sentence.
The 49-year-old Bowyer himself faces an April 4 sentencing date. He pled guilty in August 2024 for illegally taking sports bets, money laundering and filing a false tax return. Coincidentally, that’s Bowyer’s birthday.
“It was very obvious he was stealing money and not asking Ohtani for permission,” Bowyer told The Post explaining that Mizuhara bet through his sports betting site before stopping around January 2024.
The interpreter allegedly would pretend he was Ohtani when calling banks to get the star’s money.
Mizuhara, for a stretch, wired Bowyer $500,000 every two weeks.
“He never acted as if the dollar amounts impacted him for one second. He was so polite and so respectful,” Bowyer said.
The Department of Justice said Bowyer’s unlawful business used several Costa Rica-based websites and a call center so customers could place and track bets.
Bowyer said he never asked Mizuhara if some of those bets he was making were for Ohtani.
MLB investigated the case and concluded that Ohtani was not making illegal bets.
“Based on the thoroughness of the federal investigation that was made public, the information MLB collected, and the criminal proceeding being resolved without being contested, MLB considers Shohei Ohtani a victim of fraud and this matter has been closed,” MLB in June 2024 said.
Prosecutors said Mizuhara made at least 19,000 wagers between September 2021 and January 2024, through Bowyer.
“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,” the Department of Justice said.
Bowyer told The Post he asked Mizuhara about the money he was consistently losing.
“I asked him if he was OK,” Bowyer said. “He said, ‘I’m just terrible at this.’ I would try to control him a little bit.”
“I truly believe he had a massive gambling addiction problem.”
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 Bowyer’s illegal gambling business, the Department of Justice said.
Bowyer said despite his concerns he didn’t cut off Mizuhara because of his greed.
“I was in my own gambling addiction, going to Vegas [from his San Juan Capistrano, California home] and betting millions of dollars.”
“I was driving my Rolls [Royce] and Lamborghini.”
Bowyer transferred or directed the transfer of least $9.3 million from Mizuhara to a casino in the form of wire transfers as payment for markers for Bowyer and his associates, the DOJ said.
“Now, I feel guilty because I feel I was part of it,” Bowyer said referring to Mizuhara’s downfall.
The DOJ said Bowyer also took bets from then-current and former professional athletes.
Bowyer for the first time is saying this includes MLB’s all-time hit leader Pete Rose, who died in September.
“Rose just loved the action,” Bowyer said when he started taking Charlie Hustle’s sports bets around 2004 when Rose was living in Las Vegas.
“He was absolutely compulsive. No question.”
In fact, he said when Rose started betting more than his $1,000 a game average after a few years he cut him off.
“I wasn’t an angel but I wanted to keep my customer from blowing his brains out,” Bowyer said.
MLB banned Rose permanently in 1989 for allegedly betting on Cincinnati Reds game while he managed and played for the team.
Bowyer said he believes about half of current professional athletes bet on sports.
“I know some of them are still betting on sports,” he said.
“If 50 percent are gambling, I would think 10 percent of those are compulsive gamblers.”
Still, he said he believes less than 3 percent bet on their own sport.
Bowyer does not think professional games are fixed, and was surprised to hear last week about the federal investigation into NBA player Terry Rozier.
“I was very surprised because he’s filthy rich and usually the people that tend to be doing these things aren’t on $90 million contracts,” Bowyer said.
Bowyer has five kids, including two who are not yet adults, and is hoping he gets probation and not jail time.
He is now not allowed in casinos and said he is making his money by selling AstroTurf.
“It’s very hard to stay clean when you go from having dopamine rushes and betting $1 million on a football game to having zero income,” Bowyer said.
“The first thing you want to do is gamble.”
He said he is planning to self-publish a book on his experiences soon after his sentencing.
