OSAKA (Kyodo) Police searched Osaka-based Allied LLC and other places Thursday for evidence the asset management firm broke the financial instrument transaction law while trading in foreign currencies.
Prefectural police teams from Osaka and Kochi raided the company after several investors complained of losing money in margin trading deals brokered by the firm, sources said.
Allied may have collected as much as ¥2.4 billion in investment money for foreign-exchange margin trading from some 290 people across the nation, investigative sources said.
Allied required a minimum deposit of ¥100,000 to participate, and some customers put up tens of millions of yen, contract documents show.
Police specifically allege that Allied coerced a 47-year-old woman from the city of Kochi into putting up about ¥5.5 million last May, promising her monthly dividends of 2 percent to 5 percent of the invested money. In another case, the firm pressured a 32-year-old man from Osaka in July to invest about ¥4 million.
Customers were told by sales representatives there was no need to worry about losses as investments in forex trades would be limited to one-third of their total deposit, police said.
Customers started complaining in November after they stopped getting the promised dividends. Allied's head office in Chuo Ward, Osaka, closed the same month without notice.