The Moment of Judgment for the Cute Female Defendant, a Benefit Hare

The defendant appeared in court wearing a black suit, white shirt, and long hair tied into a ponytail. As in the previous trial, he sat with his back straight and his hands lined up in his lap. He nodded once when the verdict was handed down, and then nodded silently again when the judge told him ‘not to commit the crime again’ (reporter from the society section of a national newspaper).

The trial of a group involved in a new type of coronavirus persistence benefit fraud was held at 11:30 a.m. on November 8 at the Tokyo District Court, where Rinka Sato, 23, an unemployed person from Mitaka City, Tokyo, was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for four years. The defendant was sentenced to two years in prison and a four-year suspended sentence.

The fraudulent group in this case is believed to have defrauded the defendant of more than 200 million yen in total by convincing him at seminars that he could become a sole proprietor and legally apply for benefits if he invested in crypto assets, and that his benefits would be doubled if he invested in Bitcoin. Sato was accused of conspiring with his colleagues to defraud the company of approximately 2 million yen in benefit payments.

At the sentencing hearing on October 12, the prosecution sought two years in prison, saying, “It must be said that this is a malicious act that abused the benefit system, which is a simple and quick payment system for emergency situations. The defense, on the other hand, argued that the defendant “played a subordinate role and has shown sufficient remorse,” and requested that the sentence be suspended.

At his first trial on August 23, he stated his motive for committing the crime: “I was worried about my future, such as the need to save 20 million yen for my retirement. The defendant’s father also appeared in court and promised to cooperate in his daughter’s rehabilitation. At his sentencing hearing in October, he stated that he would never do anything wrong in the future and expressed his remorse for having participated in the fraud. It is reasonable to assume that the suspended sentence was based on this attitude of the defendant.”

The fraud group involved a former employee of the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau, a former employee of Daiwa Securities, and others, and it is believed that Sato became involved in the crime while interacting with the core members of the group. The defendant, Daiki Matsue, 31, who is believed to be the main culprit and had fled to Dubai, has reserved his admission at his first trial in October.

The trial of Sato, whose appearance became a topic of conversation on the Internet, has concluded, but it will likely take some time before the full extent of the organization and the detailed methods of the scam can be determined.