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Just when you thought things couldn't get any stranger, they just did. Think bookies, baseball, translators, Vegas casino executives and housewives. Yeah, we're going there!
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The ex-translator of MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani reportedly wired funds to a "Real Housevives" star. Ippei Mizuhara is accused of stealing $16 million from Ohtani's banking account to cover a gambling debt. Mizuhara's is reportedly pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud.
Ryan Boyajian, a current cast member of Bravo's reality TV series "The Real Housewives of Orange County," is the bookmaker's associate to whom Ippei Mizuhara wired the funds, according to ESPN.
Mathew Bowyer, the illegal bookmaker under investigation, told the interpreter he could pay his gambling debts by wiring money into the account of Bowyer's associate, known in the complaint as "Associate 1."
That associate is reportedly Boyajian.
That account was used for real estate dealings with Bowyer.
Bowyer's name has also been mentioned as part of an expansive probe into alleged money laundering by Vegas executives. One of the former executives, Scott Sibella, plead guilty to to allowing another illegal bookmaker to gamble millions of dollars at the MGM Grand and pay off debts in cash. Sibella was being sentenced on this day, May 8.
Steven Katzman, Boyajian's criminal attorney, told ESPN that Boyajian is working with federal authorities.
"Because there is an active investigation and Ryan is working with the authorities, he can't confirm or deny what is going on," Katzman told ESPN. "He is not a bookmaker or a sub-bookie."
From ESPN:
Multiple sources said Boyajian was often seen gambling with Bowyer at Resorts World Las Vegas and other casinos on the Vegas strip. In return, Bowyer and Boyajian received high-end "comps" through their casino host, who earned money in commission based on how much they gambled. The comps included free food and beverage, golf, tickets to shows and sporting events, shopping sprees, hotel suites and promo chips.
Sources told ESPN that Mizuhara paid his losses to Boyajian, who forwarded the money to his own "marker" accounts at Resorts World and Pechanga Resort Casino in Southern California. Boyajian and Bowyer then withdrew the chips from the marker accounts, gambled with them and if they won, cashed out.
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