Lamentation of a victim who attended the first trial of a defendant who had a 400 million yen class car delivery trouble.

On February 27, the first trial was held at the Nagano District Court for Toru Kotani, the former president of Dunamis Racing, who was charged with fraud in connection with the fraudulent purchase of a new car by the company. Kotani, who entered the court in a wheelchair, admitted the indictment, saying, “There is no doubt. As shown in the photo above, Kotani had no trace of his energetic days, and his unkempt hair, which was a mixture of gray and brown hair that had been dyed gray, made him look older than he actually was.

According to the indictment and other documents, Kotani lied about his intent to order and deliver the car, and his inability to pay, and defrauded a man in his 30s in Komoro City, Nagano Prefecture of 3.2 million yen, a man in his 40s in Suzaka City of 4 million yen, and a woman in her 30s, C, of 2 million yen between November 2021 and January 2010. According to the prosecution’s opening statement, the defendant

According to the prosecution’s opening statement, Dunamis Racing, which was founded in 1995, has been operating at a loss since 2007, and as of 2013, it was no longer able to obtain new loans from its main bank. Multiple cases began to occur per year.

In 2020, the new coronavirus spread and Kotani suffered a stroke at the end of the same year, which further deteriorated the business. Around the spring of the following year, 2009, the company began borrowing money from money lenders, and by October of the same year, the company’s outstanding debt amounted to 48 million yen. It was also revealed at the trial that the money transferred from customers was immediately used to repay the loan sharks and to refund other customers.

Victim B, who visited the trial on February 27 to observe the first trial and paid 4 million yen to Kotani, reveals, “Today is the first day I meet with President Kotani.

Today was the first time I met President Kotani. My impression was that he was a ‘yobo-yobo’ old man. He didn’t show any remorse for the victims and seemed like a pain in the ass. I felt that he had a meeting with his lawyer to discuss the story, as if he would receive leniency if he honestly admitted his guilt. There was also a sense of relief after escaping from the loan sharks. The thought of going to jail, eating three meals a day, and being free from debt collection and at peace made me mad.

I decided to buy the car after calling him through an acquaintance, but I never ended up meeting him until we met at the trial. Several times I offered to President Kotani, ‘It’s a big amount of money and it’s important, so I’d like to meet with you to talk about it,’ but he said, ‘I can’t meet with you right now because of the Corona. He said, ‘I can’t meet with you at Corona right now, and I’m communicating with you all by phone and e-mail,’ so I couldn’t meet with him. I want you to return my money, even if it is only 1,000 yen or 10,000 yen. I want you to show me your sincerity. I want you to give me the heaviest punishment you can.”

Of course, Mr. A, Ms. B, and Mr. C are not the only ones who have paid money to Dunamis Racing but have not received their cars… FRIDAY Digital has interviewed more than 100 people who have had problems with the delivery of their cars, as well as acquaintances and friends who loaned money to Mr. Kotani and have not received it back. When the number of victims including acquaintances, friends, former employees, and landlords of stores and factories who had lent money to Kotani and not returned it, the total number of victims is estimated to be more than 200.

The victims purchased many minivans and SUVs, including the Toyota Alphard, which costs 4-5 million yen, the Toyota Harrier, the Suzuki Spacia, which costs 1.5 million yen, and the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, which costs about 15 million yen. The total damage was estimated to be as much as 400 million yen.