Ohtani Interpreter Sports Betting Money Was Laundered Through Las Vegas Casinos
The wild story of Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and his gambling addiction took another crazy turn, thanks to a new report from ESPN's Tisha Thompson.
Mizuhara has been charged with a federal crime for stealing $16 million from the 29-year-old superstar to engage in illegal sports betting over the course of several years.
Part of Mizuhara's alleged theft was a series of $500,000 payments sent from Ohtani's bank account to Mizuhara's bookie, Mathew Bowyer. This new report reveals for the first time what Bowyer did with the money once he received it. Seemingly to avoid scrutiny over large payments, the wires the bookmaking operation received were "forwarded to California and Las Vegas casinos, where the money was deposited in gambling accounts, converted to playing chips and later cashed out to pay the bookie," according to Thompson.
Essentially, "Mizuhara paid his losses to Bowyer's associate, who forwarded the money to his own "marker" accounts at Resorts World and Pechanga Resort Casino in Southern California. The men then withdrew chips from the marker account, gambled with them, and if they won, cashed out."
Thompson reported that sources told her that Bowyer, 49, "lost $7.9 million at Resorts World from June 2022 to October 2023."
So Bowyer used gambling losses from bettors to gamble in Las Vegas, and lost nearly $8 million in the process.
GLENDALE, Ariz. - Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara arrive to a game against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch on February 27, 2024. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Investigation Into Las Vegas Casinos Helped Lead To Ohtani's Interpreter
Federal authorities have, for several years, been investigating "illegal sports bookmaking organizations operating in Southern California, and the laundering of the proceeds of these operations through casinos in Las Vegas," according to an affidavit.
While Bowyer has not been officially charged, this new revelation clarifies how authorities noticed Mizuhara's losses and gambling issues.
The feds investigated how bookmakers used casinos to launder their payments, found Bowyer, then likely searched through his clients and where incoming wires came from. Those wires then led to Ohtani's bank account, which Mizuhara used to send money to cover his losses.
According to the ESPN report, Bowyer was known around Las Vegas to gamble and lose huge sums of money, traveling to Vegas multiple times per month. It seems that part of his strategy, beyond the obvious gambling addiction, was to launder collected money through those casinos.
And with all this going on, Ohtani has continued to be one of the best hitters in the sport, hitting .336/.399/.618, with batted ball data suggesting, thanks to his best-in-baseball .492 xWOBA, that he's actually been slightly unlucky. Amazing.