The chief lawyer for Takafumi Horie, on trial on charges of inflating the earnings of Internet services company Livedoor Co., is accusing prosecutors of framing his client.
Using unusually strong language Wednesday, Yasuyuki Takai said the case against the former Livedoor chief executive is weak and has little substantive evidence.
Horie's trial, which opened Monday, has riveted Japan. Horie, a glamorous dot-com idol before his January arrest, was praised as the face of a new Japan Inc. and a symbol of change toward a modern, freewheeling economy.