Ippei Mizuhara ‘wired Shohei Ohtani’s money to Real Housewives star Ryan Boyajian to pay off gambling debts’

The gambling scandal facing Shohei Ohtani took another bizarre twist on Wednesday, when it was reported that his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara wired money to reality TV star Ryan Boyajian.

According to ESPNBoyajian – who currently stars in Bravo’s reality TV series ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’ – is the bookmaker’s employee to whom Mizuhara sent money to pay off gambling debts.

Mizuhara has chosen to plead guilty to bank fraud after allegedly stealing $17 million from the Dodgers star, the Central District of California Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday.

The bank fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Mizuhara will also plead guilty to filing a false tax return, which carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.

Mathew Bowyer is the illegal bookmaker who is under investigation. He allegedly told Ohtani’s interpreter that he could pay his debts by sending money to someone called “Associate 1.”

Mizuhara (L) agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges of illegally transferring $17 million from Shohei Ohtani’s bank account without the player’s knowledge or consent

Boyajian and his fiancée Jennifer Pedranti have their own line of hats: ‘Dck Pic’

That person has now been unmasked as Boyajian, 47, who has been close friends and business associates with Bowyer for 20 years.

The reality TV star is cooperating with federal authorities, his attorney told ESPN. It is alleged that Boyajian was given immunity in exchange for his testimony.

According to ESPN, Mizuhara paid Boyajian, who then forwarded the money to his own accounts at Resorts World and Pechanga Resort Casino in California. Boyajian and Bowyer retrieved the chips and gambled with them. If they won, they would cash out.

Boyajian proposed to Jennifer Pedranti three weeks ago, and the couple’s engagement will be featured on the upcoming season of “Real Housewives of Orange County” later this year. The couple has their own series of hats: ‘Dck Pic’

Mizuhara, meanwhile, is expected to enter a guilty plea ‘in the coming weeks’, with his arraignment scheduled for May 14. The settlement agreement states that he will have to pay Ohtani restitution that could total nearly $17 million, as well as more than $1 million to the Internal Revenue Service.

Boyajian’s engagement to Jennifer Pedranti will be featured on the upcoming season of ‘Real Housewives of Orange County’

Mizuhara faces a maximum prison sentence of 30 years. He was released on a $25,000 bond

The Mizuhara scandal shocked baseball fans from the US to Japan when the news broke in March. Mizuhara took advantage of his personal and professional relationship with Ohtani to plunder millions from the two-way player’s account for years, sometimes posing as Ohtani to bankers, prosecutors said.

Mizuhara’s winning bets totaled more than $142 million, which he deposited into his own bank account and not Ohtani’s. But his losing bets amounted to about $183 million, a net loss of almost $41 million. He didn’t bet on baseball.

Mizuhara helped Ohtani open a bank account in 2018 and began stealing money from that account in 2021, according to the plea agreement, with Mizuhara allegedly impersonating Ohtani at the bank about 24 times.

He also admitted to falsifying his 2022 tax returns by underreporting his income by more than $4 million.

There was no evidence that Ohtani was involved or aware of Mizuhara’s gambling, and the player is cooperating with investigators, authorities said.