LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California bookmaker who took thousands of sports bets from the ex-interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plead guilty to running an illegal gambling business, U.S. authorities announced Thursday.
Mathew Bowyer’s business operated for at least five years in Southern California and Las Vegas and took wagers from more than 700 bettors, including Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement.
Bowyer has agreed to plead guilty to running an illegal gambling business, money laundering, and subscribing to a false tax return, the statement said. He is expected to enter the pleas in court Aug. 9.
“Mr. Bowyer is looking forward to accepting responsibility for his actions,” said Diane Bass, Bowyer's attorney.
The prosecution against Bowyer follows several sports betting scandals that emerged this year, including one that prompted Major League Baseball to ban a player for life for the first time since Pete Rose was barred in 1989.
Operating an unlicensed betting business is a federal crime. Meanwhile, sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.
Bass said in March that she’d been working with federal prosecutors to resolve her client’s case and confirmed an October raid at his home. She said Mizuhara was placing bets with Bowyer on international soccer but not baseball.
“Mr. Bowyer never had any contact with Shohei Ohtani, in person, on the phone, in any way,” Bass told the AP in March. “The only person he had contact with was Ippei.”
Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani's bank account.
Federal investigators say Mizuhara made about 19,000 wagers between September 2021 and January 2024. While Mizuhara’s winnings totaled over $142 million, which he deposited in his own bank account and not Ohtani’s, his losing bets were around $183 million — a net loss of nearly $41 million.
Still, investigators did not find any evidence Mizuhara had wagered on baseball. He is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
Prosecutors said there also was no evidence Ohtani was involved in or aware of Mizuhara’s gambling, and the player is considered a victim and cooperated with investigators.
Federal prosecutors said Bowyer’s other customers included a professional baseball player for a Southern California club and a former minor league player. Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office, declined to name either of the alleged bettors or say whether they faced criminal charges.
Last May, the AP reported MLB was expected to investigate former Los Angeles Angels player David Fletcher for gambling on sports through Bowyer. The information came from a person familiar with the situation who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they weren’t at liberty to discuss such impending matters.
MLB didn’t immediately respond Thursday to a query about whether the Fletcher investigation had been launched. Fletcher and Ohtani were teammates on the Angels for six years. Ohtani now plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Separately, the league in June banned San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for life and suspended four others for betting on baseball legally. Marcano became the first active player in a century banned for life because of gambling.
Rose agreed to his ban in 1989 after an investigation found that he’d placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.
The league’s gambling policy prohibits players and team employees from wagering on baseball, even legally. MLB also bans betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers. The penalty is determined at the discretion of the commissioner’s office.
Associated Press writers Joe Reedy and Amy Taxin contributed to this report.
FILE - Ippei Mizuhara, left, stands next to Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player Shohei Ohtani , right, and translates during an interview at Dodger Stadium, Feb. 3, 2024. A Southern California bookmaker who took thousands of sports bets from Mizuhara, the ex-interpreter for Ohtani, has agreed to plead guilty to running an illegal gambling business, U.S. authorities announced Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
FILE - Ippei Mizuhara, center, the former interpreter for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player Shohei Ohtani, leaves federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., Tuesday, June 4, 2024, after pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud in a sports betting case. A Southern California bookmaker who took thousands of sports bets from Mizuhara has agreed to plead guilty to running an illegal gambling business, U.S. authorities announced Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes,File)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A union leader freed from prison Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against Cambodia’s biggest casino has vowed to continue the labor action until justice is done.
Chhim Sithar was sentenced in May 2023 to two years' imprisonment for incitement to commit a felony, including time served before her conviction, in connection with the strike against the NagaWorld casino, the longest such labor action in the country's history.
She had been leading a strike of hundreds of workers that began in December 2021 to protest mass layoffs and alleged union-busting at the casino in the capital, Phnom Penh, and was arrested and charged after a January 2022 demonstration of dismissed employees who were demanding to be rehired.
NagaWorld in late 2021 had fired 373 employees during financial struggles related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to The Associated Press at her home shortly after her release, Chhim Sithar vowed to continue leading the strike.
"About our advocacy fighting for union rights at NagaWorld, we will continue holding strike action until we get a solution. That’s the position we have determined since the first strike,” Chhim Sithar said, sitting on the floor surrounded by relatives.
“Unfortunately, as of today, after nearly three years, our workers have still not gotten justice. Therefore, as long as there’s no justice, our struggle continues,” she said.
After Chhim Sithar’s arrest, some dismissed workers continued to hold regular protests, appealing for her release and to get their jobs back. However, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training announced in December 2022 that more than 200 others had accepted compensation under the labor law and dropped their demands.
“Despite relentless efforts by authorities to suppress the strike — including sexual harassment, physical assaults, and judicial harassment — the LRSU strike continues in Phnom Penh,” the Cambodian human rights organization LICADHO noted Monday.
NagaWorld is owned by a company controlled by the family of late Malaysian billionaire Chen Lip Keong. The company received its casino license in 1994 and the property is a huge integrated hotel-casino entertainment complex.
Previous labor union actions in Cambodia were usually at factories in outlying areas or in industrial estates in other provinces. The protest by the NagaWorld workers in the capital was unusually high-profile and drew police action that was sometimes violent.
Last year, the U.S. State Department named Chhim Sithar among 10 recipients of its annual Human Rights Defender Award. She was described by the then-U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy as “a courageous and tenacious labor union leader who peacefully advocates for the rights of Cambodian workers.”
Cambodia’s government has long been accused of using the judicial system to persecute critics and political opponents. Prime Minister Hun Manet succeeded his father last year after Hun Sen ruled for four decades, but there have been few signs of political liberalization.
Chhim Sithar, right, a union leader being freed from prison after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino, speaks to her supporters at a club on the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, a union leader being freed from prison after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino, speaks to her supporters at a club on the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, gestures as she meets her supporters in a club at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the union leader was freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country's biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, second from right, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, sits near her mother, center, as she meets her staff members in her sister's home at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the prominent union leader freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, second from right, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, meets with her mother, center, and her staff members in her sister's home at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the prominent union leader freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Chhim Sithar, president of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, smiles as she meets her staff members in her sister's home at the outskirts of Phnom Penh Cambodia, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after the prominent union leader freed from prison on Monday after serving time for her part in a strike against the country’s biggest casino. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
