The illegal bookie who took bets from Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter was sentenced to just over a year in prison on Friday.

Mathew Bowyer was given a prison sentence of 12 months and one day after pleading guilty in August 2024 to running an illegal gambling business, money laundering, and filing a false tax return.

U.S. District Judge John W. Holcomb also ordered Bowyer, 50, to attend gambling addiction counseling. 3

Holcomb said that Bowyer’s tax return crime “is significant and needs to be taken into account” and added that “justice demands there be some custody time.”

Prior to Bowyer’s sentencing, prosecutors said in a court filing that they went with a lighter sentence for Bowyer because of his assistance with the conviction of Ippei Mizuhara , Ohtani’s former interprete

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