Former Lawyer Manabu Kishimoto Arrested–Lawsuit Details Alleged Theft of Sexual Assault Survivors’ Settlement Funds

More than ¥13 million in additional suspected offenses

News of a former attorney being arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police has sent shockwaves through society.

On June 17, former attorney Manabu Kishimoto (52), from Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture, was arrested on suspicion of embezzlement in the course of business.

“According to investigative sources, Kishimoto is suspected of accepting a request from a woman who was the victim of a voyeurism case to negotiate a settlement with the perpetrator. After receiving a ¥300,000 settlement payment in March 2023, he allegedly failed to pass the money on to the victim and instead used it to repay his home mortgage and for other personal expenses. The case came to light after the woman, who became suspicious when the settlement money never arrived and she could no longer contact him, reported the matter to the police.

Kishimoto had previously appeared in multiple media outlets and co-authored the legal guide for women Otome Roppo (with Sakura Kamitani, published by KADOKAWA), making him widely known as a specialist in supporting victims of sexual crimes such as groping and voyeurism. He even served on the Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association’s committee on crime victims. The woman in this case reportedly learned of his credentials online, trusted him completely, and hired him to handle her settlement negotiations,” said a reporter from the social affairs desk of a national newspaper.

However, Kishimoto’s alleged misconduct did not end there.

In fact, he is believed to have repeatedly misappropriated settlement payments (by withholding them from clients) in similar cases over an extended period. As a result, on May 23, 2025, the Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association imposed its harshest disciplinary measure—expulsion.

In a statement published on its official website the same day, the bar association outlined the reasons for the disciplinary action, stating, in summary:

Over roughly one year beginning in April 2022, Kishimoto successfully negotiated settlements on behalf of 11 clients but failed to hand over any of the settlement money they were owed. The total amount paid by the perpetrators reached ¥13.16 million, none of which was delivered to his clients. Separately, he also fell behind on bar association membership dues and other payments totaling ¥423,500. In addition, he made inappropriate posts on social media and even failed to report a change of his law office’s address. Taken together, his conduct was deemed to have fallen far outside the ethical standards expected of an attorney.

A series of excuses to delay paying settlement money

How, then, did he manage to deceive multiple victims and continue misappropriating their money?

“FRIDAY Digital” obtained the complaint and case records from a separate civil lawsuit unrelated to the recent criminal arrest. The documents detail both his alleged methods and the long list of excuses he gave.

The plaintiff, identified as Ms. A, is a woman who had suffered a sexual assault in the past and was left with deep emotional trauma. Around December 2021, she retained Kishimoto to negotiate a settlement in her case.

On April 1, 2022, the parties reached a settlement of ¥4 million. By the following day at the latest, Kishimoto had received the full amount from the perpetrator’s attorney, and the money should have been promptly transferred to Ms. A’s bank account.

Instead, even after 10 months had passed, she had not received a single yen. When she repeatedly pressed him to transfer the funds, Kishimoto allegedly responded with one excuse after another.

“We will now proceed with the procedures to close the Japan Federation of Bar Associations’ legal aid program. I will contact you as soon as the closure is approved.”

(From the complaint. All quotations below are from the same source.)

“Because the amount involved is large, I believe the review of the case closure is taking longer than usual.”

At first, he blamed delays on the procedures of a public legal aid program. But as the months passed, his explanations gradually shifted toward deflecting responsibility.

“Due to an error in our office’s administrative work, we discovered that the closure report for the Japan Federation of Bar Associations had not been submitted.” (June 2022)

“It appears we were unable to receive the notification fax.” (August 2022)

Then, beginning in August 2022, he repeatedly cited his own poor health as the reason for the delay.

“I am currently in poor physical and mental condition, and it is extremely difficult for me to function. I hope to complete the bank transfer procedures sometime next week.” (August 2022; wording as in the original)

“My health problems have continued, and I sincerely apologize for being unable to respond. As for the transfer, I will absolutely arrange it by the end of this week, or at the latest by next week.” (November 2022)

Office closure and the end of his alleged disappearance

After November 2022, Kishimoto allegedly stopped responding to Ms. A’s attempts to contact him.

Ms. A hired another attorney and filed for dispute mediation with the bar association—a process in which a committee established by a professional organization seeks to resolve disputes between licensed professionals, such as attorneys, tax accountants, judicial scriveners, or administrative scriveners, and their clients through mediation. Kishimoto neither submitted a written response nor appeared for the scheduled proceedings.

Having abandoned hopes of resolving the matter directly, Ms. A filed a civil lawsuit on February 2, 2023. During the court’s efforts to serve the complaint, it was discovered that Misebaya General Law Office in Shinbashi, Minato Ward—where Kishimoto had practiced—had been closed as of March 31, 2023.

After Ms. A’s legal team investigated his whereabouts, the complaint was finally served on him in May 2023. Even so, Kishimoto failed to appear for the first court hearing on June 19, 2023.

Under Japanese civil procedure, if a defendant neither files a written defense nor appears in court, the plaintiff’s claims are generally accepted as uncontested. Accordingly, just two weeks after the initial hearing, on July 3, 2023, the court ordered Kishimoto to pay ¥4 million, plus 3% annual interest for late payment, to Ms. A.

In response to Kishimoto’s arrest, Nobuhiro Oka, president of the Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association, issued a statement saying:

“We will expand the functions of our public consultation service to identify signs of misconduct at an early stage, continue our efforts to eradicate professional misconduct, and respond rigorously to such cases. We are committed to further strengthening legal ethics among our members, and the Association will do everything in its power to maintain the public’s trust in attorneys.”

Victims of sexual crimes who were trying to rebuild their lives after traumatic experiences placed their trust in an attorney—only, it is alleged, to have that trust betrayed, with their settlement money disappearing into the repayment of a home mortgage.

Investigators are now under pressure to uncover the full extent of the alleged misconduct. For the victims, however, the emotional wounds of this second betrayal are likely to take a long time to heal.