Feds seek lenient sentence for bookie who helped bag Ohtani’s interpreter

(Resorts World Las Vegas public relations photo)

Federal prosecutors in California are recommending a 15-month sentence for Mathew Bowyer, the illegal bookie who took millions of dollars in bets from baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter and laundered some of the proceeds at Resorts World Las Vegas.

Bowyer admitted to operating an illegal gambling business, money laundering, and filing a false tax return. He failed to report more than $4 million in income in one tax year, according to the government’s motion to the judge, filed Friday, to impose a sentence outside federal guidelines.

Bowyer’s business “placed and accepted bets on sporting events for its clients, and employed agents and sub-agents, including casino hosts, who referred and recruited clients, demanded and collected on bettors’ losses and distributed winnings, and were paid a portion of the losses bettors incurred and paid,” says the government’s motion.

The proposed sentence, scheduled to be imposed next week, is far less than the 41 to 51 months calculated in the government’s presentence report, and rewards Bowyer for his lack of criminal history and “substantial assistance to the government,” including in its prosecution of Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, and fellow bookie Damien LeForbes.

Mizuhara is serving a 57-month sentence for stealing $17 million from Ohtani. LeForbes is awaiting sentencing for operating an unlawful gambling business and money laundering.  

Bowyer’s information “contributed to the government’s ability to interpret recovered text messages and execute a search warrant on Leforbes in December 2023,” the motion says, adding he provided additional information in January 2024. 

LeForbes declined to comment on the record on the revelation that Bowyer cooperated against him. 

“I met with Matt Bowyer over a year ago and he said he told his lawyer he wasn’t giving up his players or his friends, just the dirty casino executives,” high stakes gambler Robert (R.J.) Cipriani, who worked as a confidential source for the government, said Monday. 

LeForbes, Bowyer, and another gambler lost an estimated $24 million, much of it laundered gambling proceeds, at Resorts World Las Vegas. 

The Current was first to report two years ago that federal authorities out of California were investigating allegations that gamblers with questionable sources of income were gambling at Resorts World and MGM Grand. 

MGM paid a $7.45 million fine as part of a non-prosecution agreement with the feds, and paid $8.5 million to Nevada regulators. Resorts World paid a $10.5 million fine to the Nevada Gaming Commission. An anticipated nonprosecution agreement between federal prosecutors and Resorts World has yet to materialize. 

“It’s unconscionable that two bookies are likely going to jail yet the Resorts World executives who got caught up in it move down the street to another casino,” Cipriani said. 

Bowyer, the government says, has accepted responsibility for his conduct and is making restitution on unpaid taxes as part of his plea agreement. His sentencing is scheduled for next week.