Feds want light sentence for bookie linked to Strip resort, Ohtani interpreter
LV REVIEW JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTION
Federal prosecutors are recommending a 15-month prison sentence for a California man who pleaded guilty to running an illegal sportsbook out of a Las Vegas Strip casino and also took bets from Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter.
Mathew Bowyer — who pleaded guilty last year to federal charges of running an illegal gambling business, money laundering and filing a false tax return — should receive a “low-end” custodial sentence of 15 months based on a lack of criminal history, having accepted responsibility for his crimes and for providing assistance in other government gambling probes, prosecutors wrote in a 21-page filing Friday. Bowyer’s sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 29, according to the document.
According to the filing, Bowyer’s enterprise “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.”
Previous filings from prosecutors noted Bowyer sometimes operated out of and recruited hosts from “Casino A,” which Bowyer confirmed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday as Resorts World Las Vegas. The casino agreed in March to pay a $10.5 million fine from the Nevada Gaming Commission for allowing gamblers tied to illegal bookmaking to play there.
Although prosecutors say Bowyer’s illegal gambling business took hundreds of millions in bets from more than 700 bettors and failed to report more than $4 million in income in 2022, Bowyer also provided “significant, timely, and credible,” information that helped secure convictions in cases against professional poker player and bookie Damien LeForbes and Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s translator and de facto manager. Mizuhara stole nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar and was sentenced in February to more than four years in prison.
The proposed sentence is less than the 41 months to 51 months that was calculated in the government’s pre-sentence report, but takes into account that Bowyer’s actions defrauded the government, took advantage of compulsive gamblers and other misconduct, prosecutors said. Bowyer has also taken responsibility for his actions and has paid more than $1.6 million in restitution, the amount prosecutors said was owed to the IRS in taxes, interest and other fees.
“A low-end custodial sentence of 15 months is appropriate here, balancing the seriousness and multi-faceted nature of his conduct and need for specific and general deterrence, with defendant’s personal and mitigating circumstances, and having already accounted for his acceptance of responsibility, lack of criminal history, and assistance to the government,” the filing states.
‘A friend of mine’
The filing said that Bowyer provided prosecutors with information via statements and was willing to testify at trial regarding that information, particularly in the case of Mizuhara. Prosecutors say he probably pleaded guilty because of information given in Bowyer’s testimony.
Starting in November 2023, Bowyer also gave information that helped authorities recover text messages and execute a search warrant against LeForbes, but he stressed on Tuesday that information was taken by law enforcement who searched his digital devices.
“I know that it says that I cooperated against Damien LeForbes, which, technically, yes I did,” Bowyer said in a brief phone interview. “It wasn’t like I ran to the Unites States government and said, ‘Here’s Damien LeForbes on a platter,’ and that I wanted to give him up, or be an informant or something like that. Because I would never do that.”
Bowyer continued: “I would never want to implicate Damien LeForbes, who was a friend of mine in the former matter. Whatever he’s doing, or whatever crimes that someone else is committing is not my business. What I’m doing and what I’m dealing with is my sole concern and business. And I’m just trying to get past it and move forward.”
Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California, declined to comment. Attempts to reach LeForbes, who is awaiting sentencing, through Las Vegas-based attorney Richard Schonfeld were not successful. Michael Freedman, who represented Mizuhara in his federal case, declined to comment.
Bowyer was also connected to an illegal sports gambling operation involving former MGM Grand President Scott Sibella and another California gambler. In April, gaming regulators levied an $8.5 million fine against MGM Resorts International.
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