The Tokyo District Court sentenced Ichiro Yamamoto, 59, former chairman of the now-bankrupt investment group Keizai Kakumei Club, to eight years in prison Wednesday for defrauding 36 investors out of 177 million yen.
In the same trial, the court sentenced former KKC executives Tadashi Kuribayashi, 65, and Yasuji Kobayashi, 51, to two years and eight months in prison for illegally obtaining money through a pyramid scheme in conspiracy with Yamamoto.
Judge Tetsuji Nagaoka said there was no doubt that the Tokyo-based firm was involved in fraud because the defendants promised high returns while knowing their investment scheme would collapse.