Why Did He Need the Money? Former Citizen Executive Arrested After Allegedly Embezzling ¥96 Million in Watches

Allegedly embezzled around 420 luxury wristwatches

“I did it because I wanted money.”

The man, who had been on the run for one year and nine months, reportedly admitted to the allegations during police questioning.

On May 27, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Second Investigation Division arrested Kinya Homma (57), a former executive at major watchmaker “Citizen,” on suspicion of occupational embezzlement.

According to investigators, between around December 2019 and February 2020, Homma allegedly took eight wristwatches (retail value approximately ¥2.2 million) that had been stored in a subsidiary warehouse and sold them to a secondhand shop in Shinjuku for around ¥800,000.

Police believe that from around December 2019 through April 2024, Homma sold approximately 420 wristwatches (with a total retail value of about ¥96 million) in more than 40 transactions. Investigators suspect he spent over ¥30 million of the proceeds on dining, golf, and other personal expenses. (National newspaper crime reporter)

At the time, Homma was responsible for in-store sales promotions and was in a position that allowed him to request inventory from the company’s warehouse through its internal system for promotional displays.

“It is believed that he abused this system and continued illegally removing merchandise even after being promoted in April 2020. In 2024, Citizen strengthened its inventory management procedures. Shortly afterward, in September, Homma informed his supervisor that he was unable to come to work and disappeared.

An internal investigation later uncovered the embezzlement, leading to his dismissal. A criminal complaint was filed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in December of that year.

After going into hiding, Homma was eventually found working at a hot spring inn in Atami City, where he was arrested.” (same source)

Despite being an executive at a well-known company, Homma allegedly abused his position and repeatedly engaged in criminal conduct. Other occupational embezzlement cases that have recently attracted public attention include the following:

・A temporary accounting employee at the Numazu Night Emergency Medical Center in Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture (who died in June 2024 at the age of 69) allegedly embezzled medical reimbursement payments from workers’ compensation and compulsory automobile liability insurance programs. On May 11, Shizuoka Prefectural Police referred the case to prosecutors with the suspect deceased.

・From January 2019 to June 2024, the man allegedly transferred approximately ¥62 million in medical reimbursements into secretly created bank accounts through 882 separate transactions. Although the case was ultimately not prosecuted due to his death, authorities believe he may have embezzled a total of about ¥250 million since 2008.

・A judge at the Niigata Summary Court allegedly embezzled maintenance fees collected by the residents’ association of a government employee housing complex and used part of the money for online gambling. On April 17, the Akita District Public Prosecutors Office indicted the judge on charges of occupational embezzlement and habitual gambling.

Between April 2023 and May 2025, while living in a government employee housing complex in Yokote City, the judge allegedly transferred a total of ¥2,785,200 in maintenance fees collected from residents into a bank account under his own name. Part of the money was allegedly used for online casino gambling. The judge had been responsible for managing the passbook for the account into which the maintenance fees were deposited. On May 13, the Supreme Court petitioned for the judge’s removal through impeachment proceedings.

Misappropriating property that had been entrusted to one’s care and management

In these cases, money that should have been deposited into a hospital account was instead transferred into a personal account, or funds from jointly managed accounts were diverted for personal use. When people hear the term occupational embezzlement, they often imagine someone misusing money.

But in the case of suspect Kinya Homma, who allegedly took company-owned wristwatches and sold them, why is the offense not considered theft? And since his actions caused financial damage to the company, wouldn’t they constitute breach of trust instead?

Attorney Koichiro Matsui of Atom Law Office explains:

“Theft is the crime of taking property that is in another person’s possession against that person’s will. A typical example would be a customer secretly stealing merchandise from a store. The key point is that the property is in someone else’s possession.

Occupational embezzlement, on the other hand, is the crime of unlawfully appropriating property that has been entrusted to you for custody or management as part of your job. The decisive difference from theft is that you already have the property in your possession.

Breach of trust occurs when someone handling affairs on behalf of another violates their duties and causes financial loss to the principal. Rather than taking a specific item for oneself, it involves causing financial damage through a breach of duty, with improper lending being a classic example.”

So what makes Homma’s alleged conduct occupational embezzlement?

“In this case, as manager of the Sales Planning Section, he used his authority to request wristwatches stored in a subsidiary’s warehouse, placed them under his own control, and then sold them.

Although the watches were originally in the company’s possession, because he had the authority through his job to obtain them, they are regarded as having been in his possession at the time he appropriated them for himself.

In other words, he privately sold and appropriated company property that he was authorized to handle as part of his work. Therefore, this is not theft, which involves taking property from another’s possession. Nor is it merely breach of trust, since he appropriated the property itself rather than simply causing financial loss through a violation of duty. Accordingly, the offense is classified as occupational embezzlement.”

After a lengthy period on the run, Homma was ultimately arrested. Had he continued working honestly until retirement, he might well have earned more—including retirement benefits—than he allegedly gained through embezzlement.

Why, then, did he commit a crime that cost him the career he had spent years building? The full circumstances are expected to become clear as the investigation continues.

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