300 million yen for false story about “buying 20 jet planes! Former female president with a reputation for being “cute” in cahoots with a representative of a consulting firm.
“We have branches all over the world, and our headquarters is in Beverly Hills (a prime location in the U.S.).
He bought 20 jumbo jets for investment with cash. He is the top-selling foreign real estate company with an annual income of 800 million yen.
The suspects deceived their clients by emphasizing their wealth.
On November 6, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Consumer Affairs and Economy Division arrested six men and women, including Ki-michi Lee, 39, the representative of a consulting firm called REIT Japan Holdings (hereinafter “R”), on suspicion of violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law (unregistered business). The suspects had falsely told clients that Company R was involved in cobalt mining in Congo, Africa, which is used in lithium-ion batteries and other products. Despite the fact that there was no actual business, they were believed to have solicited investments.
That’s how you treat a person to whom you owe a debt,” he said.
The alleged incident took place in the fall of ’20. He solicited four men, including a man living in Hyogo Prefecture, to invest in a mining business in the Congo if they bought unlisted shares of “Seven Stars Japan Holdings” (hereinafter referred to as “S”), a company affiliated with R Corp, even though it was not registered with the government. They claimed that they would receive a 15% monthly dividend.
In order to make the suspects believe them, they also told them that a major general trading company was involved and that they lived in the U.S. and had a famous athlete living next door. They even showed photographs of themselves with celebrities. When the clients became suspicious, he would tell them that this was the way to treat a person to whom you owe a debt of gratitude to make you money. The victims invested approximately 26 million yen. However, it seems that dividends were paid only once.
The men in Hyogo Prefecture were not the only victims. According to the police, between July 2008 and August 2009, six suspects, including Lee, collected nearly 300 million yen from more than 200 people across the country using false stories and information provided by another company. The suspect who conspired with Lee was Akane Kuroda, 31, who was the female president of Company S. Akane Kuroda, 31, who was the president of company S, has a reputation on the Internet as being “cute.
The suspects, including Lee and Kuroda, used the large amount of money they collected through false investment stories for entertainment expenses such as going to cabaret clubs, traveling abroad, and buying luxury brand goods. Meanwhile, the police received a number of inquiries from the suspects, such as, ‘Dividends from R Corp. are overdue. The police have not revealed the admissions or denials of the suspects.
A photographer for this magazine photographed the suspects immediately after their arrest on November 6. Lee, who did not look offended, turned straight ahead and went to the police station. The suspect Kuroda, who was slumped over in the back seat of the police vehicle, did not look at the press.
The police are further investigating the possibility that there may be other victims of R Corp.’s cobalt investment story throughout Japan.
PHOTO.: Shinji Hasuo