If you have been living under a rock, you might have missed one of our biggest stories of 2024 involving MLB star Shohei Ohtani. The baseball player’s interpreter found himself in hot water after admitting to stealing roughly $17m from Ohtani to gamble. He is now facing 57 months and three years of supervised release, plus repayment of the stolen funds.
Mizuhara gambled through illegal bookmaker Matthew Bowyer
Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara gambled through illegal bookmaker Matthew Bowyer. The 49-year-old pled guilty to taking illegal sports bets, money laundering, and filing a false tax return. As he awaits sentencing, he has spoken out for the first time in an exclusive interview with The New York Post.
Bowyer told the Post that he felt guilty for letting Mizuhara gamble as much as he did. “It was very obvious after some time he was stealing money and not asking Ohtani for permission,” the bookmaker explained. The interpreter would call banks pretending to be Ohtani in order to use his money.
Bowyer claimed that he did actually ask Mizuhara if he could afford the losses. He explained: “I asked him if he was OK. He said, ‘I’m just terrible at this.’” Bowyer added that he “would try to control him a little bit” because he could tell Mizuhara had “a massive gambling addiction problem.”