The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court-imposed 10-year prison term against Upper House member Tatsuo Tomobe for swindling 35 people out of about 665 million yen between 1994 and 1996 through a bogus mutual fund scheme.
Tomobe, 72, an independent Diet member who has refused to resign his seat despite being incarcerated since his 1997 arrest, was convicted in March by the Tokyo District Court of defrauding depositors of his mutual aid association, Orange Kyosai Kumiai.
The high court also upheld five-year prison terms handed to Tomobe's wife, Mikiko, 65, who served as Orange Kyosai's managing director, and Matsunosuke Ishizaki, 66, its president, for conspiring with Tomobe in the fraud.