Bowyer sticks by Ohtani defence after extended Mizuhara audio surfaces

Former illegal bookmaker Matt Bowyer has again insisted that Shohei Ohtani never bet with his operation, speaking out after ESPN released expanded audio of the interview in which Ippei Mizuhara first linked the Dodgers star to gambling payments. Bowyer made the comments during an Instagram Live on Tuesday, moments after Ohtani opened a game with a 440-foot home run — his 23rd of the season and 132nd since joining Los Angeles in 2024, the most by any MLB player in that stretch. Bowyer, freed from prison this spring, said he hopes to attend a Dodgers game later this season.

“He did nothing wrong, I don’t believe he gambled,” Bowyer said on the broadcast.

The original interview

ESPN’s newly released audio comes from the 20 March 2024 interview in Seoul, when Mizuhara told reporter Tisha Thompson that Ohtani had wired millions to accounts linked to Bowyer to cover gambling debts. Mizuhara recanted within hours, and Ohtani’s camp said he had been the victim of a large-scale embezzlement. Thompson had been chasing the story for months, eventually learning of two $500,000 wire transfers to Bowyer’s betting operation. A crisis communications firm founded by Matthew Hiltzik, who has represented clients including Hillary Clinton and Brad Pitt, connected Thompson with Mizuhara.

Bowyer was later accused of taking roughly $325 million in wagers from Mizuhara. The interpreter’s gross winnings were $142.3 million, offset by $182.9 million in losses, leaving a net debt of $40.2 million; Bowyer received payments of nearly $17 million. The fuller audio shows Mizuhara describing how wires were made in 2023 — on 14 September and 2 October — during Ohtani’s final weeks with the Los Angeles Angels. “I felt bad every time we did a wire,” Mizuhara told Thompson, while also saying Ohtani knew the amounts and that payments were made together. He later admitted to fabricating parts of that account.

Bowyer told iGB he was surprised Mizuhara had agreed to such a lengthy conversation with ESPN at all. A source familiar with Hiltzik Strategies said the firm had doubts about Mizuhara’s initial story but tried to give Thompson the most accurate information available at the time, which ultimately contributed to Mizuhara’s admissions.

Fallout and investigation

After the Dodgers’ 5-2 win that day, a league source told Thompson that Ohtani had covered part of Mizuhara’s debts. Dodgers executive Andrew Friedman informed players in a clubhouse meeting, where Mizuhara apologised and cited his gambling addiction. According to published reports, Ohtani first learned that a substantial amount of money had gone missing from his account on the drive back to the hotel. His attorneys later said Ohtani had been “the victim of a massive theft,” and the Dodgers terminated Mizuhara, who then told Thompson he had lied during their earlier call.

Mizuhara was intercepted by US Homeland Security Investigations agents at Los Angeles International Airport days later. At a terse Dodger Stadium press conference, Ohtani denied ever betting on sports and said Mizuhara had been “stealing money” and “telling lies.” Ohtani added: “To summarise how I’m feeling right now, I’m just beyond shocked. It’s really hard to verbalise how I’m feeling at this point.” Identified as “Victim A” in court filings, Ohtani sat for interviews with IRS Criminal Investigations, and investigators reviewed about 9,700 pages of text messages between him and Mizuhara.

Mizuhara pleaded guilty to bank fraud and was sentenced in February 2025, with prison records listing a January 2029 release date and possible deportation to Japan afterward. IRS special agent Chris Seymour, who wrote a 37-page affidavit in the case, said he found Mizuhara’s claims about Ohtani’s involvement not credible. Seymour pointed to a recorded call in which Mizuhara allegedly impersonated Ohtani to authorise a six-figure transfer, and to Mizuhara routing gambling winnings to his own account. “It’s contrived, it’s methodical – it’s thought out,” Seymour told iGB. Tyler Hatcher, a former IRS-CI special agent in charge who now leads global operations, told iGB that Ohtani was treated like any other victim: “I don’t care if it’s Joe Smith off the street or Shohei Ohtani,” he said, adding that Ohtani was “unequivocally truthful” during interviews. MLB closed its review in June 2024, calling Ohtani a victim of fraud.

Bowyer’s legal trouble

Bowyer, 51, pleaded guilty to illegal gambling, tax fraud and money laundering and was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison. He is now on Nevada’s exclusion list, permanently banned from state-licensed casinos. Four Las Vegas entities — Resorts World Las Vegas, Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts and The Venetian — have reached or agreed to penalties tied to Bowyer-related anti-money laundering failures, totaling $34 million if the Venetian’s $7.2 million settlement is approved. Bowyer recently volunteered at the Santa Ana courthouse where he was sentenced, saying he advised more than a dozen convicts on navigating prison: “I just gave them the plan to get out of prison as fast as I could and get home to my family.”

Lingering questions

ESPN’s six-part series, “The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani,” runs through 11 August, with the next episode focused on Bowyer. He told viewers ESPN interviewed him for about 12 hours over several days, including on the golf course, where he used to recruit clients. Bowyer said he met Mizuhara at a 2021 team poker game, and that Ohtani’s former teammates described the star as strongly opposed to gambling. “He wouldn’t gamble $5, so you don’t just start gambling $40 million,” Bowyer said.

Although Ohtani is now widely expected to win a fourth consecutive league MVP, questions remain about what he knew before March 2024. Bowyer does not believe Ohtani bet with his book, but he acknowledges the full truth is still unknown. “There are only two people in the world who know one million percent of the truth,” he said, “and that’s Ippei and Shohei.”