The Matsuyama District Court on Wednesday ordered an imprisoned senior underEworld loan-sharking figure to pay E.6 million in compensaEtion to seven borrowers.
The seven claimed Susumu Kajiyama, 56, serving time in a Tokyo prison, pressured them into paying exorbitant vigorish, topping 1,000 percent, for loans from black-market lenders.
The seven were among 11 people in Ehime Prefecture who sued for about E5 million in compensation from Kajiyama, who was a senior figure in Goryokai, a group affiliated with Japan's largest underworld syndicate, Yamaguchi-gumi.
Last November, Kajiyama was sentenced by the Tokyo High Court to 6Eyears in prison for money-laundering and lending at usurious interest rates.