A Junior Comedian Who Was Invited by TKO Kimoto Reveals His Aggressive Investment Solicitation Tactics

He said, “You don’t know what you’re doing, so leave it with me. I won’t let you lose money.”

Takehiro Kimoto, 51, of the comedy duo “TKO,” said this was his signature line when he invited him to invest. Kimoto left Shochiku Entertainments on July 23 to take responsibility for the 700 million yen he had collected from fellow comedians and industry insiders. A junior comedian who was actually solicited by Kimoto confided, “I refused his invitation.”

A junior comedian who was actually solicited by Kimoto confided, “I refused the invitation, but a comedian I knew had deposited about 500,000 yen with Mr. Kimoto. However, although it was good that he deposited the money, he did not seem to have been informed of how it would be invested.”

It was reported that Takashi Yoshimura (42) of “Heisei Nobushi Kobushi” had deposited as much as 50 million yen to Kimoto. Other names mentioned included Kukki of “Wild Bombs” According to A, Kimoto’s solicitation gradually became more and more intense.

According to A, Kimoto’s solicitation became more and more intense. “When he solicited money from me, I told him I didn’t have any money, but he wouldn’t back down. When I replied, ‘I can’t afford 300,000 yen,’ he got angry and said, ‘What the hell? When he saw that I had no intention of investing, he would ask, ‘Who has a part-time job? And, “Who has the money? He would ask me where else he could find me. The worst part was when he called me in to supposedly give me guidance on my art, and then talked endlessly about investments until the morning.”

The comedians Kimoto solicited had one thing in common, according to A. Their main target was the tenants of Shochiku.

The main targets were mid-level comedians who had been with Shochiku for 10 years or more. Even if they were young, they never went below the fifth year of their performing career. The amount of investment per person was approximately 300,000 to 500,000 yen, so it was impossible for a novice comedian to prepare for this. Since the Shochiku comedians were probably not making much money, the idea was to gather a large number of them. The comedians who didn’t have the money were naturally reluctant to give it, but Mr. Kimoto said that in the worst case scenario, he would make up the difference. He would say, ‘If the investment performance goes negative, I’ll pay out the full amount.”

An unprecedented investment scandal involving the entertainment industry. Will the full story ever be revealed?

From the August 12, 2022 issue of FRIDAY