The former chairman of Cresvale International Ltd.'s Tokyo branch pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he violated the Securities and Exchange Law by selling so-called Princeton bonds to clients while knowing they would be irredeemable.
Appearing before the Tokyo District Court, Akira Setogawa, 66, also denied two other charges, including conspiring with a former vice president of Yakult Honsha Co. to falsify Yakult's earnings report, and damaging Yakult's financial assets by offering rebates to the Yakult executive by using part of the firm's investment in the bonds.
Setogawa did admit to evading 260 million yen in taxes between 1996 and 1998. Prosecutors alleged that he did this by concealing commissions he received from Princeton Economics International Ltd., which is Cresvale's U.S. parent and the issuer of the bonds.