A former deputy leader of the Honohana Sampogyo foot-reading cult was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for defrauding 31 people between 1994 and 1997.
Lee Gang Chon, 55, was the cult's No. 2 figure after group founder and leader Hogen Fukunaga. His sentence is the heaviest dished out to nine cultists who have thus far been tried and sentenced at local courts.
Fukunaga's trial is still in progress.
Presiding Judge Osamu Ikeda of the Tokyo District Court described Lee's crimes as "premeditated and vicious" and accused him of exploiting the victims' vulnerability. He also said the amount of money fraudulently acquired by Lee and other cult members was vast.
Ikeda said Lee helped to establish the group as a close aide to Fukunaga and played a key recruitment role in the fraud.
According to the ruling, Lee conspired with the 56-year-old Fukunaga and other group members to swindle about 149 million yen from 31 people who had visited cult facilities for foot-reading diagnoses of their illnesses. The money was swindled under the pretext of training fees.
Fifteen members of the cult were indicted in the fraud case. The cult went bankrupt in March and was effectively dissolved.