MATT BOWYER: Oh, that’s it. Right down the middle.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: I’m on a gorgeous golf course in Dana Point, California. We can see the Pacific Ocean on the horizon and it’s a perfect 75° day.

 

MATT BOWYER: That’s actually not bad though. You hit it far. That was way better than I anticipated.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: I’m here with Matt Bowyer, the bookie at the center of the Shohei and Ippei gambling scandal.

 

MATT BOWYER: Gotta hit, like, a seven iron and just get it in the fairway. You actually have a good line up there. Oh, that’s a good shot, doc.

 

OWEN HANSON: Yeah, buddy.

 

MATT BOWYER: Look at that.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt’s brought along his friend, Owen Hanson.

 

OWEN HANSON: Get it in the hole, baby.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Owen is a former USC football player and was a prolific bookie himself before he spent nine years in prison. Matt and Owen tell me, golf courses like this are where they would target potential clients. So I asked them to pretend I’m someone they want to recruit.

 

MATT BOWYER: All right, so, Tisha (PH)–

 

TISHA THOMPSON: We’re pretending.

 

MATT BOWYER: Okay. Owen and I are gonna bet this hole if you wanna join in on the action.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Well, how much would it cost me?

 

MATT BOWYER: Well, we’re gonna do about $10,000, closest to the pin.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So I say, “Hmm. $10,000. Uh.”

 

MATT BOWYER: Okay, well, if that’s o–

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Do people balk at ten?

 

MATT BOWYER: Of course, almost everybody.

 

OWEN HANSON: They usually go, “Let’s do five.”

 

MATT BOWYER: Or, “I don’t bet that kinda money.” “Oh, okay, well, what do you bet?” “I’ll bet 300 bucks.” “Okay, well, let’s bet 300. Let’s go.”

 

OWEN HANSON: We want any action we can take.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: What if they say, “A beer?”

 

OWEN HANSON: It’s not worth our time. (LAUGH)

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So I say, “$5,000.” What are you saying internally if I agree to–

 

MATT BOWYER: I mean, “We got ’em.” (LAUGH) We pretty much know that even if we lose to you in golf, you’re gonna start betting sports with us.

 

OWEN HANSON: We got ’em right where we want ’em.

 

MATT BOWYER: You know? And really it’s about the relationship. The golfing is– I’m– we’re not great golfers.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt has done a lot of work building relationships here. It seems like he knows pretty much everyone working at this course.

 

MATT BOWYER: (UNINTEL), did you ever play on my website?

 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE: Yeah.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Did you really?

 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE: Yeah. (LAUGH)

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Employees here didn’t just bet with Matt’s sportsbook, he says some of them worked for him as agents who recruited clients for his website.

 

MATT BOWYER: I had an agent that worked here who was club cleaner, a person (UNINTEL) they know the people comin’ in, they’re excited from golf. And he would just (THROAT CLEARING) set ’em up on my website. I would take the bets and give him a cut.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: This is an expensive golf course. The greens fees here are not cheap. But Matt says they let him play for free.

 

MATT BOWYER: I can’t wait to see this shot. (LAUGH)

 

TISHA THOMPSON: If we had actually been betting on this hole, I’d be in trouble.

 

MATT BOWYER: That was nice and high. (LAUGH) You’re not on the green though.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt’s up next.

 

OWEN HANSON: Ooh, that’s on.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Ooh, you’re on.

 

OWEN HANSON: Yeah, he’s on.

 

MATT BOWYER: I’m a money player, Tish.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: He comes within inches of hitting a hole-in-one. So you now have just won $40,000 off of Owen.

 

MATT BOWYER: Correct.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: I don’t even know how much I owe you.

 

MATT BOWYER: Ten.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Okay. So I owe you ten. How do you now roll that into the sales pitch for your website?

 

MATT BOWYER: For me, I would just say, “Tish, that was great playin’ with you. Obviously, I– I’ve played well. I got the best of you today. If you want an opportunity to try to win some of your money back, I own– a sports betting operation. Happy to give you– an account. Love to do business with you.”

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says this pitch worked in a lot of settings, a bar, a party, or a poker game like the one where he met Ippei Mizuhara. When did this poker game take place?

 

MATT BOWYER: I believe it was ’21, late in ’21.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So much of the story has focused on Shohei and Ippei’s relationship, what their dynamic was, and what really happened between them. But Matt Bowyer is central to this story too. Because he didn’t just take the bets, he carefully monitored Ippei’s account and tracked the betting all while pocketing millions of dollars of Shohei Ohtani’s money.

 

MATT BOWYER: For people who can’t see that, that’s perfect.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: I’m ESPN investigative reporter, Tisha Thompson. And this is The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani.

 

ANNOUNCER: Here in the pitch to Ohtani. (CHEERING)

 

REPORTER: Federal investigation. Wire transfers, two and a half million dollar’s worth. (UNINTEL) California (UNINTEL).

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Episode Four: The Bookie. What was the largest table game that you ever laid down?

 

MATT BOWYER: Whatever they would take, $300,000 a hand I was betting on Baccarat every 30 seconds. Craps table I won $3.2 million in– in 38 minutes. That’s the biggest rush I’ve ever had probably ever.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt is 51 years old. We meet at his Spanish-style house in a gated community in San Juan Capistrano, California. When I first arrive, I spot a number of luxury vehicles in his driveway, including a high-end Range Rover which easily costs more than $100,000. He has tribal tattoos on both arms, perfect teeth, and wears tight-fitting, high-end clothes. Matt says gambling is in his blood.

 

MATT BOWYER: My family, they were all gamblers. And– my grandparents took me to the racetrack as a two-year-old. We would play Yahtzee for money in their backyard. I mean, dollar, two dollars, whatever.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Both of his parents were bail bondsmen. And the seeds of his illegal betting operation go back to high school when he started taking action, as he calls it, small bets from other students.

 

MATT BOWYER: People in high school started knowing that I loved to gamble, ’cause I was very– obvious that I’d gamble almost anything. People would come to me, “Oh, I wanna bet on the Lions this weekend.” “Do you wanna bet 20 bucks?” “Sure.”

 

TISHA THOMPSON: After graduating, he worked as a commodities trader, but soon realized being a full-time bookie would make him a whole lot more money.

 

MATT BOWYER: I provided a service that was very functional for people. And I enjoyed it more. I’m proud of the fact that I was able to run a big operation.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says much of his success came from using his connections to get into exclusive rooms like the poker game where he met Ippei in 2021.

 

MATT BOWYER: We went to the game that night, played the Padres. We had really good seats. And, of course, I bet on the game. We sat with a Koch brother, guys that I knew that were friends of a baseball player. And they invited us to go to, you know, a private poker game.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: That baseball player was David Fletcher, the Angels infielder who was known to be an avid poker player and buddies with Shohei. Fletcher told me he invited one of Matt’s friends to the poker game and Matt tagged along. The poker game was at a hotel where the Angels were staying in San Diego, just a few miles from the stadium. And Fletcher knew Matt. He said he had played golf with him at a charity event once and had heard he was a bookie.

 

MATT BOWYER: These guys had a private room and they were already dickin’ around, playin’ poker when I got there.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: How many people?

 

MATT BOWYER: Probably 13 people in the room. You know, some were just hangin’ out, havin’ pizza, and just havin’ a beer, or whatever. And I think I– I actually paid for the pizzas to be (LAUGH) honest with you.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Will you tell us the names of the baseball players that were in that poker room when you entered it?

 

MATT BOWYER: No.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: How many players?

 

MATT BOWYER: I could tell you that. There was I believe three actual players.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: How many coaches?

 

MATT BOWYER: I think two.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says they played Texas Hold’em and the stakes were, in his words, low.

 

MATT BOWYER: I think I had, like, maybe two or three thousand dollars in my pocket buy-in wise.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: How quickly did you spot Ippei? (LAUGH)

 

MATT BOWYER: I’ll be honest, I– I didn’t really even pay attention to it. I’m sitting here. A friend of mine was right next to me. And then he ended up coming over by us. And my friend is the one who recognized that he was looking at a betting website and approached him to get him to come over to my website. My friend was doing what he knows what to do, which is to recruit business. And– so I was just letting him do what he does. I was playing poker and just havin’ fun.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says his agent left the game with at least one new client that night, Ippei Mizuhara. The agent would be the one handling Ippei’s bets and money and would get a cut in return.

 

MATT BOWYER: My operation had, like, 40 to 50+ agents. And those agents’ job is to facilitate their clients underneath that umbrella. And for that reason…

 

TISHA THOMPSON: The agent set Ippei up with an account on Matt’s website. Matt’s sportsbook was based entirely online, on a site hosted in Costa Rica. There’s a whole cottage industry there of companies that will set up websites and calculate odds for American bookies.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Ippei told me he did not realize Matt’s sportsbook was illegal. And the fact that they gave him a line of credit with no money down didn’t raise any red flags. When did your ears perk up that this might be something that could become lucrative for you?

 

MATT BOWYER: I didn’t even care. It was– no offense, but he’s not a baseball player, right? So I didn’t know till later what I was really dealin’ with.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: At first, everything was pretty ordinary. But less than a month later, Ippei wanted more. And he was producing so much action, Matt did something unusual. He started managing the account himself. So how quickly did you take over Ippei’s account?

 

MATT BOWYER: I think it was, like, within 30 days. Because once the numbers started getting higher and there was a request for higher figures, that’s when I got involved. He bumped his account, bumped it again. I bumped it all the way to 40. And then he lost. And then I required payment.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: When Ippei’s debts grew to $40,000, Matt told him it was time to pay. And the money arrived without too much trouble.

 

MATT BOWYER: So now I have history. Now I have a proof of funds.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: But Matt was noticing that Ippei’s betting habits were some of the strangest he’d ever seen.

 

MATT BOWYER: I mean, he was absolutely bananas the amount of bets he was making, right? And, listen, I had gambled bigger than most, right? And I sleep. You know? (LAUGH) I have a life too. He definitely was betting all night long, all the time. I’d never seen anything like it. I’ve seen some wild stuff, but never like this.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So walk me through what the bets were on.

 

MATT BOWYER: What he was betting was, to me, is the hardest thing to win at, soccer, mostly soccer. $100,000 draw, Ukraine versus Turkey. $100,000 on– Saudi Arabia. And I’m using bigger countries. Imagine, I don’t even– I can’t even– Kazakhstan. (LAUGH) You know? Like that. $100,000 on that or $40,000 on a draw in this game.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So when you’re starting to see this betting behavior, how often are you monitoring his account?

 

MATT BOWYER: Every day. All day.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says being a good bookie is about managing relationships and understanding his clients, their rhythms, and their patterns. He says he saw through Ippei almost right away. Was Ippei, in your mind, exhibiting gambling addiction behavior? (LAUGH)

 

MATT BOWYER: Absolutely.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: When did that become apparent to you?

 

MATT BOWYER: Very fast. Within 30 days, for sure.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: What are you feelings about profiting off of someone’s obvious addiction?

 

MATT BOWYER: It– it sucks.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt would know. He himself admits to being a compulsive gambler. And he identified that same behavior in Ippei.

 

MATT BOWYER: He was trying to dig out of a hole. And that hole made him even more poor of a gambler, because he’s betting big payout stuff, right, knowing that it’s probably gonna lose. And that just digs a deeper hole.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: As a bookie, when you realize someone has a gambling addiction, what do you do?

 

MATT BOWYER: You try to control it so that you can make money off that person, but control it so they don’t ruin themselves.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Really?

 

MATT BOWYER: Really.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: If I sound unconvinced, that’s because Matt is in the business of making as much money as possible. But bookies can’t make money if their clients don’t have money. So Matt says it’s all about finding the sweet spot.

 

MATT BOWYER: This is something every bookmaker that has a really good business will tell you. There’s a very fine line. And I think I did it better than anyone, truly.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: And if a client did try to disappear or stop paying, Matt says he knew how to pressure them. He and Owen told me about it when we went golfing.

 

MATT BOWYER: There are so many ways that you can go about making somebody feel uncomfortable.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: I had quite a number of people very concerned about me approaching you, that your reputations proceed you.

 

MATT BOWYER: Well, we were known as very dangerous individuals, to be honest.

 

OWEN HANSON: People called us modern day gangsters. You know?

 

MATT BOWYER: Well, that’s true.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Do you walk around with a gun in your pocket?

 

MATT BOWYER: No, definitely not.

 

OWEN HANSON: Never. Never. It’s just our persona.

 

MATT BOWYER: It’s aura, persona. And I’ll speak about when we were younger.

 

OWEN HANSON: Yeah, before (UNINTEL).

 

MATT BOWYER: We would go to your house, and knock on your door at 11:00 at night, and say, “Where is– where is the money?” That’s aggressive. Whether you’re coming there in a violent manner or not, they don’t know that. And when you have a guy standing behind you that’s 6’5″ with tattoos across his face and teardrops, who doesn’t say a word, it makes you kinda a little concerned at 11:00 at night when the wife is answering the door because her husband has a gambling debt and isn’t responding to phone calls. It’s a tactic that can be very effective.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: How much of it is intimidation versus actually following through on the threat?

 

OWEN HANSON: I would speak for both of us. 90% of it’s intimidation.

 

MATT BOWYER: You don’t want to– you don’t want to resort to violence ever. You wanna just get them so scared, whether it’s sending flowers to the wife, or– or, you know– you know, anything to make them–

 

OWEN HANSON: Or pictures of them taking the trash out, their wife taking the trash out on a Sunday morning.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: But Ippei was a good customer. Matt wasn’t sure where the money was coming from. And he had no idea how much an MLB interpreter made. But that wasn’t his problem. He says he didn’t care, because Ippei was paying up. But once Ippei’s debts got into the millions, Matt needed Ippei to step up and make bigger payments. Ippei told Matt his Bank of America account would only allow him to send $500,000 at a time. And that was only if they used the same bank. And that posed a problem.

 

MATT BOWYER: Bank of America no longer accepts my business.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So Matt asked one of his best friends with a Bank of America account to accept the money.

 

MATT BOWYER: I had to use Ryan to help me with that.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Ryan Boyajian. Ryan is the fiance of Real Housewives of Orange County’s Jennifer Pedranti. And he sometimes appears on the show himself. Matt says Ryan agreed to help him by accepting payment for Ippei’s gambling debts into his Bank of America account. And it was Ryan who first noticed that there was something unexpected about Ippei’s wire transfers. And he called Matt.

 

MATT BOWYER: I was actually sitting in my office and– I got a phone call. And he said, “Are you sitting down?” And I said, “Yeah.” (LAUGH) He said, “Well– I just received $500,000 wire.” “I said, okay, that’s– thank you. That’s great.” And he said– it’s Shohei Ohtani is the name on the account. And I just went, “What the fuck?” That was the holy shit moment. (PAUSE) I believe 50% of athletes bet on sports. I mean, that’s truly my opinion.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: When Matt Bowyer’s operation received that wire transfer from Shohei Ohtani’s bank account, he assumed Shohei was involved in the betting, which he found surprising, but not out of the ordinary. Shohei was a megastar. But it wasn’t the first time a famous name had appeared in Matt’s book. He says he had many professional athletes on his roster of clients. I know you’re not gonna give me the names of any athletes. Did you have professional athletes who played for the NBA?

 

MATT BOWYER: Yeah.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Did you have professional athletes who were you client who played for the NFL?

 

MATT BOWYER: Yes.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: NHL?

 

MATT BOWYER: Yes.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: NCAA?

 

MATT BOWYER: I’m sure.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: MLB?

 

MATT BOWYER: Yes.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: All those leagues we just named, were they active when they were betting with you?

 

MATT BOWYER: Both. But I would say betting on your own sport is gonna be a problem and that’s definitely not gonna happen, right? Something like that.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: You would explicitly say, “Do not bet on your own sport?”

 

MATT BOWYER: I would because– I mean, to be honest with you, it– it was almost obvious they weren’t going to. But I just made it very clear.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Did you have clients that worked in sports broadcasting or were sports writers?

 

MATT BOWYER: I’ll answer the question, yes, with– with you not allowing to ask any more questions in that area.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Did you have clients that worked for ESPN?

 

MATT BOWYER: I don’t wanna answer that question. They’re all human beings. They’re all guys having fun. And they all love sports. And they’re all just doing what guys do, which is bet on sports.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says the $500,000 wire transfers made him suspect Ippei might not be the one betting after all. He thought maybe Ippei was acting as a beard for Shohei. In betting lingo, a beard is someone who places bets on behalf of someone else.

 

MATT BOWYER: I thought Ippei was putting in bets either with or for Shohei Ohtani.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says he had plenty of athletes who used beards.

 

MATT BOWYER: They just don’t wanna deal with an illegal bookmaker and have something possibly come down the pike on their end, you know, if I got in trouble.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: When you saw Shohei Ohtani’s name, what do you think is going on?

 

MATT BOWYER: I think he’s betting. Absolutely.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: But Matt noticed something strange, something that added real doubt about whether Shohei was involved. He says he noticed bets rolling in while Shohei was playing baseball.

 

MATT BOWYER: I’ve been at Angel games when he was on the mound and throwing pitches and bets are being placed.

 

ANNOUNCER: And he struck him out again.

 

MATT BOWYER: So how could that happen?

 

ANNOUNCER: It’s still amazing what he does on the mound. (CHEERING) And he got him.

 

MATT BOWYER: I mean, he is the most talented baseball player I’ve ever seen. But if he could get on a website on the mound, and throw a ball 100 miles an hour, then he is Godzilla for sure.

 

ANNOUNCER: Oh, he’s gone. How ’bout it? And another strike out for Shohei.

 

MATT BOWYER: That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t partners on the account, doesn’t mean that he wasn’t aware. I mean, everyone knows they were, like, best, best friends. I mean, best friends. They were together more than a husband and wife ever are. I mean, that’s a fact. And I was close with a lotta Angels players that would verify that these guys were inseparable. I mean, literally. So in my mind, that’s something best buddies would do. You gamble together. You hang out together.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says at this point he’s guessing Shohei has to at least be aware of Ippei’s betting I not outright involved with it.

 

MATT BOWYER: I’m giving this guy so much credit. I’m watching the balance just decline. But I don’t know if it’s Shohei Ohtani. I don’t know if it’s Ippei.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: In my interview with Ippei, he told me he sent Matt’s operation a total of $4.5 million. But Matt says that wasn’t true. It was actually a lot more money. He says his operation received $16 million from Shohei’s bank account.

 

MATT BOWYER: I mean, let’s be honest, $16 million to Shohei Ohtani is not a lotta money. It’s a lotta money to any human being, right? But to him of all people in the world, it’s a lotta money, but it’s not, right?

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt assumed he’d hooked the biggest player in baseball. How many people do you think you told Shohei Ohtani was your client?

 

MATT BOWYER: Probably 30 to 40 people.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: For Matt, it was a form of advertising, telling people you’re Shohei Ohtani’s bookie. But having an athlete that famous connected in any way to his book was also risky.

 

MATT BOWYER: Holy shit. You know, this is good and bad, right? I mean, my first instinct is, “Great. I just got paid.” My next instinct is, “This could be a problem for me.”

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Why?

 

MATT BOWYER: Well, it’s a professional athlete, the biggest– in my opinion, the best baseball player ever to set foot on– on the planet. And, yeah, on the greed side of me is like, “This is great. This guy could lose $50 million and afford it.”

 

TISHA THOMPSON: But Matt didn’t actually know who his client was. And he didn’t care. His goal as the bookie was to make as much money as possible. And if he could claim he had hooked a wealthy, well-known athlete, that’s great for business and his ego. So, sure, he told people that Shohei was his client.

 

MATT BOWYER: But then the other side of it is, okay, now I’m gonna have eyes on me, more eyes than they already have.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: It’s a high-risk business. And Matt told me he always knew he would get caught one day. Were you the biggest bookmaker in the United States in September 2023?

 

MATT BOWYER: Volume wise? I have to be.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: What is your mindset at the end of September?

 

MATT BOWYER: Well, I was getting wire transfers that were drastically high. My business was the biggest it’s ever been. I was flying on a private jet, having caviar, and being treated like you’re Paris Hilton.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt was gambling with so much money at the casinos that they would also comp him gifts like $40,000 Breitling watches and luxury purses for his wife.

 

MATT BOWYER: And the best suites, and the best– table in a nightclub, or at the nicest restaurants, $8,000 dinners. I had a $14,000 dinner at Guy Savoy at Caesar’s Palace for four people. The nicest wines you could ever imagine. And I’m not even really a wine drinker. I mean, who spends $14,000 on a dinner?

 

TISHA THOMPSON: And you were doing this at one point with Shohei Ohtani’s money?

 

MATT BOWYER: Absolutely.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: When does it get tense?

 

MATT BOWYER: Well, once I’m raided was when it got tense– because the minute I walk out my driveway and there’s 29 agents and eight AR rifles in my chest, I realized that I now just lost my business.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security raided Matt’s house on October 5th, 2023.

 

MATT BOWYER: I opened the door of a G-Wagon and I was literally putting my son in his car seat. And I think I strapped the second buckle when I heard, “Freeze.” I thought it was a joke. I thought it was, like, fucking friends of mine fucking with me.

 

MATT BOWYER: They allowed me to grab my son. And then they asked me, “Who’s in the house?” And I said, “Fuck,” in my mind, ’cause now I’m thinkin’ of my poor wife. And then I watched her come out, handcuffed, crying– which I’ll never forget. At this stage, Tisha, I know the party’s over.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says they handcuffed him and began to seize anything they thought could be connected to his business. Could you see what they were taking?

 

MATT BOWYER: Oh, yeah, yeah. That table in there was a pile of cash, gold bars, casino chips, purses, jewelry, watches. Of course they were rifling through my office, grabbing all files of, like, paperwork, of casino receipts, all my sports bet tickets– anything that’s a tax related thing, anything that they could find that is going to be evidence.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: All of the things that wound up on the search warrant inventory that I first learned about when I got the tip. But Matt wasn’t being raided just because he had an illegal sportsbook. He was being raided because of what he had done with the money it made. He needed to wash that money, to launder it, to make it look like he came by it honestly. And to do it, he went to Vegas.

 

MATT BOWYER: Everyone there pretty much knew I was a legal bookmaker.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt would go to a casino with money he’d made from his business and exchange it for chips. Then he’d gamble with it. Sometimes he’d win. Sometimes he’d lose. And when he cashed out, the money would look like gambling winnings.

 

MATT BOWYER: Sometimes I would gamble solely to turn a cashier’s check into cash, so that I could wash money. Let’s say I lost 70 grand. I brought $500,000. I got $430,000 comin’ to me, right? They can’t give me back a check for $500,000, not the one I brought. But they can give me $430,000 in cash.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: And that’s clean money?

 

MATT BOWYER: Well, it’s now l– it’s– it’s all on the legal system. You just proven that you brought $500,000 and you returned with $430,000 in cash. Now, is it clean? I mean, obviously, if you’re investigated by the FBI and they see that it’s ill-gotten gains, it’s not clean. But bank wise you now have a check from a casino. It’s as good as a cashier’s check.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Which casinos did you use to launder money?

 

MATT BOWYER: Any and all. Every– every one.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: What put Matt in the Fed’s crosshairs was his activity at one particular casino, Resorts World Las Vegas. And that’s where his friend, Ryan Boyajian comes back into the picture. Ryan would take the money he received from Shohei’s account and forward it to his account at Resorts World.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: He would then withdraw some of that money in chips and give them to Matt. Then they’d gamble. And if they had anything left when they were done, they would cash out and leave with clean money. I wanna make sure I’m totally clear. The money that you are accused of laundering in Resorts World, was that only Shohei Ohtani’s money or was that other clients’ money plus Shohei’s money.

 

MATT BOWYER: Mostly Shohei– (UNINTEL).

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt was so open about what he did that he even joked about it on an episode of the Real Housewives of Orange County with Ryan. After we broke the story, our reporting on Ryan and Matt’s operation, including screenshots of our story from ESPN.com, became a plot line in the show.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: A reality star on Real Housewives was trying to parse what I’d been investigating for months. And a story from the sports world was becoming a pop culture phenomenon. For the first time, people who didn’t care about baseball were asking me about Shohei.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Ryan has declined all of my requests for an interview and his criminal defense attorney was very clear, Ryan is not a bookmaker. Ryan cooperated with the Feds and was given immunity for his testimony. And a few weeks after the raid, Matt also decided to cooperate with the Feds with the hope he would get a reduced sentence in return. But they seized his assets and he says he was broke. Matt still owed people money and some of his clients still owed him money. So Matt got in touch with one particular client who owed him millions.

 

MATT BOWYER: Reached out to Ippei to meet with him, because we had a large balance. And I knew that, in truth, that I’m gonna owe a shit-ton of money.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Ippei was deeply in debt with Matt’s sportsbook. Matt says on top of the $16 million Ippei had already sent, his account still owed $24 million more. $16 million plus $24 million equals $40 million. Ippei racked up more than $40 million in debt betting with Matt.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Court records would later confirm this. It’s an unbelievable number. How on Earth would anyone allow someone to owe them $40 million? But the money had been flowing. Ippei kept paying until he didn’t. Ippei stopped paying just when Matt needed the money more than ever.

 

MATT BOWYER: That’s a moment where I– I kinda knew things were outta control, ’cause he wasn’t responding.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: In an effort to get Ippei’s attention, Matt texted him saying he could see Shohei walking his dog. And if Ippei didn’t call him back, Matt would go up to Shohei and ask him how he could get in touch with Ippei. Where were you when you made that text?

 

MATT BOWYER: Here at the house.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Had you ever seen Shohei Ohtani?

 

MATT BOWYER: I– I was not the person that saw, but I have a friend of mine that was ten feet away from him.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So the threat was real?

 

MATT BOWYER: Oh, well, not a threat. The conversation of potentially talking to Shohei was real. I took advantage of that moment to just get him to respond– which he responded and called me. That’s all I wanted. We met at a Starbucks. And I just wanted to see what he was doing.

 

MATT BOWYER: ‘Cause if he– I didn’t want him to send a wire transfer for obvious reasons. Because now everything’s out in the open and I didn’t want anyone else to get in more trouble. So I just wanted to sit down with him without telling him what was going on. Because if I’m telling him what’s going on without the government’s permission, then that’s a problem.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Had you met with him in person since the poker game?

 

MATT BOWYER: Yeah, like, passing. Like, for example, I would go to the Angels games and, you know, we’d have dugout seats. And, you know, he’d be there. We’d say, “Hi.” But never, like– we didn’t have a relationship where we’d go for a walk and talk or– he was very little words.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So you’re seeing him for the first time one-on-one?

 

MATT BOWYER: Yeah. I just remember he was– clearly, he owed $24 million to me in his mind. And he was, like, so beside himself a little bit. Like, that was when I started to know there was a problem, ’cause he was just go– “Oh, God, man. I’m just so bad at this. I can’t pick a winner.”

 

MATT BOWYER: Like, it was more like blaze. Like, you know? He was whining a little bit, but it was, like, whining just like I would if I lost– a bet. You know? It wasn’t like, “Oh, I owe you $24 million and my life’s over.” It was like, “Oh, I just can’t win. You know, sorry I can’t get you some money right now.” That kinda thing.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt says Ippei ended up sending him $1.25 million. As part of your agreement with the federal government, were you allowed to continue to collect bets?

 

MATT BOWYER: Oh, hell, no. Yeah. We even asked them directly if we could receive some of the outstanding balance and forward it to them to go against my restitution, or taxes, or anything. And they said, “Absolutely not.”

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So in meeting with him and talking about how much money he owed you, were you in violation of that agreement?

 

MATT BOWYER: I– I imagine.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: During our day on the golf course, Matt told me he regrets that last meeting with Ippei.

 

MATT BOWYER: To be honest with you, I probably would get house arrest if I d– didn’t do that, which, of course, is– for $1.25 million, which I have to give all to the government anyway, really makes no sense now. I would’ve– wish I could do it all over again.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: I’ve played golf all of my life, but I will never look at a course the same way again after spending the day with Matt Bowyer. It starts off so innocently, a beautiful course, maybe a few beers, and then a, “Hey, you wanna make a bet on this hole?”

 

TISHA THOMPSON: But as I look around at the people working and playing around me, I wonder how many of them are in trouble? And it can happen anywhere, on a golf course, at a bar, or at a poker game. You are a potential mark, a target. This is a multimillion dollar operation looking for any opportunity to hook you. Are you wearing a Breitling watch?

 

MATT BOWYER: This is the one I got from Resorts World for my birthday.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Is that the one the Feds took?

 

MATT BOWYER: Yeah. I got it back.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: I have never met anyone who knew that they were gonna get in trouble to the degree that you’ve gotten in trouble and embraced it.

 

MATT BOWYER: I have no choice, Tisha. Like, because I know I’m gonna come out of this thing bigger and better.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt seems to view this as just another chance to reinvent himself. Are you truly done gambling?

 

MATT BOWYER: No. No. I’ll– I’ll probably gamble the rest of my life. I mean, no question.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: So Gamblers Anonymous?

 

MATT BOWYER: I go to Gamblers Anonymous.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Going to therapy?

 

MATT BOWYER: I go to therapy.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Going to prison. This is a tough moment.

 

MATT BOWYER: For me, the moment is gonna be really tough when I have to walk into prison, leaving my boy, leaving my kids. That’s the hard part.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: But the reality of prison time doesn’t seem to hurt his game. You dropped that right into the hole.

 

MATT BOWYER: That’s for birdie, by the way. That was at, like, a 14–

 

TISHA THOMPSON: How far away was that?

 

MATT BOWYER: It’s, like, 14, 15 feet.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: He’s on a hot streak.

 

OWEN HANSON: He’s– he’s never played like this (LAUGH), for the record.

 

MATT BOWYER: You bring out the best in me, Tisha.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Oh, I try.

 

MATT BOWYER: I mean, you did– you did put me in prison though.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: I didn’t put you in prison.

 

MATT BOWYER: I’m just teasing you. (LAUGH)

 

TISHA THOMPSON: You put yourself in prison.

 

MATT BOWYER: I’m teasing you.

 

REPORTER: We begin with breaking news here at 11. The Orange County bookie connected to an illegal gambling operation linked to Dodgers star, Shohei Ohtani, is heading to prison. About an hour ago…

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Matt was sentenced to 12 months and one day. That extra day made him eligible for early release. One reason he received a lighter sentence was because of the information he gave the government about this case. Matt had a unique vantage point. He was at the center of this scandal. He communicated with Ippei about the bets and he tracked them as they came in. When he thinks back on it, it’s the volume that he can’t shake.

 

MATT BOWYER: Let’s be real, $17 million over a two-year period, 19,000 wagers in less than two years. Do you how much time consuming that is? I gambled every day of my life. I bet probably more bets than Ippei did, to be honest. But I was watching the games, watching my phone. It’s a lotta work. So how does a person not even notice that?

 

TISHA THOMPSON: But remember, Matt says he never met Shohei. His interactions were only with Ippei. And he paints a picture of Ippei as an unsophisticated gambler who was in over his head. Someone needed to talk to Shohei.

 

FEDERAL AGENT: So we needed to investigate, A, was Mr. Ohtani involved in this illegal conduct. And, B, if he wasn’t, how did this happen and who was responsible?

 

TISHA THOMPSON: The Feds would use the information Matt gave them to tell a very different story about who Ippei is, not hapless and unlucky, but calculated, someone who wanted payback.

 

FEDERAL AGENT: Mizuhara was given this golden opportunity. He basically got the keys to the castle. But it wasn’t enough.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: That’s next on The Betrayal of Shohei Ohtani.

 

MATT BOWYER: Oh. I think it’s just short.

 

TISHA THOMPSON: Oh, Owen.

 

OWEN HANSON: Story of my life.

 

MATT BOWYER: Hey, now we all went in the water today.