<p>On September 10, &#8220;ReBOOT &#8211; K-1 ReBIRTH&#8221; was held at the Yokohama Arena and was filled with the excitement of the fans.</p>
<p><strong>More than 20 fighters from Japan and abroad participated in the event, which featured 15 fights. The most popular match was the super bantamweight title match between reigning K-1 champion Akihiro Kaneko (26) and Masashi Kusura (24). The two fighters have an even record of one win and one loss. Kusumura, who lost in the final of last year&#8217;s K-1 tournament, was looking for revenge.</strong></p>
<p><strong>&#8220;Kaneko won the match by decision after extra time. Popular TV personality Yu-chami (22), who declared her serious relationship with Kuson after being photographed in a hot relationship, wept over the loss and immediately became an Internet news item. Peter Aerts (52), a famous fighter of the past well-known to K-1 fans, appeared as a presenter for the grand finale. The venue was filled with excitement,&#8221; said a martial arts writer.</strong></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p>Another highlight of this year&#8217;s event was the inauguration of a new organization.</p>
<p>In July of this year, K-1 announced the retirement of producer Takumi Nakamura (42). Carlos Kikuta was appointed as his successor, and the organization was revamped.</p>
<figure id="attachment_332165" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 400px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-332165"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="292fa8ea"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/09/dd1c1608c5c144080edecfd45307b0d7.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-332165" class="wp-caption-text">Carlos Kikuta&#8217;s profile photo (from the official K-1 website)</figcaption></figure>
<p>At <strong>the press conference, Mr. Kikuta stated, &#8220;K-1 has been perceived as an isolationist organization that does not interact with other organizations, but from now on, I would like to go overseas. The September 10 event was the memorable first event of the new K-1.</strong></p>
<p><strong>&#8220;K-1 had been pushed aside by such latecomer events and organizations as &#8220;BreakingDown&#8221; and &#8220;RIZIN,&#8221; and its former vigor had faded into the background. The launch of the new organization has aroused great expectations among K-1 fans of yesteryear,&#8221; said a martial arts writer.</strong></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p>What kind of person is Mr. Kikuta, the key figure in the new K-1 organization? One of his acquaintances said, &#8220;He is from Fukushima Prefecture.</p>
<p>His <strong>real name is Yasushi Kikuta. After graduating from a local high school, he went on to study music at Tokyo University of the Arts. At the university, he devoted himself to playing the bassoon, a wooden Suga instrument.</strong><strong>After graduating from college, he worked for Sony and Softbank before moving to Fields, a pachinko manufacturer, where he served as GM of the martial arts organization &#8220;GLORY JAPAN&#8221; since 2013.</strong> The <strong>name Carlos Kikuta is an alias he provided himself during his business days to use for his work overseas</strong>.&#8221;</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Contents of Kikuta's fraud allegations"></div>
<p>Kikuta is the new &#8220;face&#8221; of K-1, but it is not widely known that behind the scenes he is involved in a barrage of lawsuits involving both main lawsuits and counterclaims. In addition, the Tokyo District Court ruled in January of this year that he is &#8220;on the verge of being KOed.</p>
<figure id="attachment_332166" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2907px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-332166"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="d0d4e680"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/09/7ad7c0711e049ce893fa8e9a99008088.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-332166" class="wp-caption-text">Mr. Kikuta giving a lecture in 2019.</figcaption></figure>
<p>Kikuta is <strong>suspected of falsifying receipts and making unauthorized accounting claims. It all started with a lawsuit Kikuta filed against JCU in July 2020, demanding payment of unpaid wages. The JCU was not silent, and in counterclaiming the lawsuit, Kikuta presented the allegations of falsified receipts to the court.</strong></p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p>The JCU is a conservative political organization established in Japan in 2015. The organization, a Japanese partner of &#8220;ACU,&#8221; which is also a supporting body of the Republican Party, is known as one of the leading conservative groups in Japan, with close ties to former US President Donald Trump (77) and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (59), among others.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><strong>Mr. Kikuta has been working with this &#8220;JCU&#8221; as a PR consultant since 2016, and even though he was an outsider, he held the title of Executive Director. At the time, Kikuta explained to those around him, &#8216;I know a lot about politics. However, he sometimes acted as if he was confusing the Republican Party with the Communist Party, and some people were suspicious that he might be a &#8220;business conservative.</strong></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Contents of court documents obtained independently"></div>
<p>FRIDAY Digital obtained court documents from Mr. Kikuta and JCU. According to the complaint, Mr. Kikuta claimed payment of approximately 23 million yen in total, including unpaid base salary and replacement expenses. JCU, in response to Kikuta&#8217;s lawsuit, examined the payment request forms and other documents and found that Kikuta had improperly claimed as much as 3.5 million yen in expenses for meals, and counterclaimed.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p><strong>What surprised us was the method of fraudulent billing. It is a common practice to write the amount of money and the name of the restaurant on a blank receipt given by the restaurant (&#8230;&#8230;), but Mr. Kikuta prepared the receipt himself, even preparing a stamp with the restaurant&#8217;s name on it. He even prepared his own stamp with the name of the restaurant on it to make it look genuine.</strong></p>
<p><strong>In other words, the receipts were complete dummies. The receipts were all in the name of the restaurant, and there was even a receipt for a high price of 80,000 yen for a coffee shop. These</strong><strong>receipts have been confirmed by JCU to be fake, and Kikuta&#8217;s actions could be considered forgery of private documents, fraud, and embezzlement</strong><strong>.</strong></p>
<p>Mr. Kikuta&#8217;s actions may constitute forgery of private documents, fraud, and misappropriation. Three years after the lawsuit was filed, the court ruling came in January of this year.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p>In the <strong>judgment, 95% of the 23 million yen in unpaid wages claimed by Mr. Kikuta was dismissed. The court ruled that Kikuta was obligated to pay the remaining 850,000 yen. On the other hand, JCU counterclaimed that Kikuta had filed a &#8220;fraudulent claim&#8221; and was ordered to return the full amount of 3.5 million yen. In other words, the court ruled that the receipt submitted by Mr. Kikuta was a fabrication.</strong></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="The reaction of the K-1 management company was..."></div>
<p>Mr. Kikuta was outnumbered in the first round of the district court. When we contacted M-1 Sports Media, which manages K-1 events, about the trial, they responded in the name of Mr. Kikuta&#8217;s lawyer as follows.</p>
<p><strong>The case is still being heard by the Tokyo High Court. We believe that the objective evidence submitted by Mr. Kikuta has not been fully considered and that the decision is contrary to the facts.</strong> Therefore, we <strong>are filing an immediate appeal to the Tokyo High Court and seeking the correct outcome of the judgment</strong>.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p>As for the important issue of the fraudulent claim?</p>
<p>&#8220;Since there <strong>is objective evidence showing that the expense reimbursement was made with the approval of the representative director of JCU, we believe that none of the above crimes apply and that all of them are legitimate acts</strong>.</p>
<p>and emphasized that the forgery of receipts was not an illegal act in any way.</p>
<p>M-1 Sports Media stated, &#8220;We are <strong>not a party to the trial and do not know the details</strong>,&#8221; adding, &#8220;We <strong>have heard that this is a civil matter in Mr. Kikuta&#8217;s past and that he is still in the process of asking the court for the correct decision. Our company will continue to monitor the process of the trial</strong>,&#8221; he commented.</p>
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
<p>We are <strong>told that JCU is also consulting with the police regarding his fraudulent billing. It seems that the JCU intends to continue its pursuit of the case both in court and with the police.</strong></p>
<p>The battle has entered the &#8220;second round&#8221; at the high court. Will the key man of the new K-1 be able to survive this major crisis?</p>


 Mr. Kikuta is the new "face" of K-1, but it is not known that behind the scenes he is facing a barrage of lawsuits involving both main lawsuits and counterclaims. In addition, he was "nearly KO'd" in a ruling handed down by the Tokyo District Court in January of this year.

Dark Clouds over New K-1! Producer Carlos Kikuta Suspected of Forging Receipts

Access Ranking