The FBI probed MRI International Inc. in 2009 on suspicion that it was running a Ponzi scheme, according to a source who cooperated with the investigation.
The revelation comes after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission won permission to freeze the assets of MRI and its president and CEO, Edwin Fujinaga, from a U.S. district court in September.
The SEC suit alleges that MRI was a massive Ponzi scheme that targeted Japanese investors and defrauded them of more than ¥78 billion.