A former member of the Honohana Sanpogyo foot-reading cult was sentenced Tuesday to a suspended 18-month prison term for swindling about 4 million yen from two women who consulted the cult about issues related to illness and child-rearing.
It was the first ruling handed down against 15 Honohana members charged with fraud.
Michiko Ichinose, the 37-year-old former head of the cult's Urawa branch, was found guilty of defrauding the women after urging them to undergo religious training to overcome their troubles, the Tokyo District Court said.