Shareholders won damages Thursday from Takafumi Horie, founder of Internet startup Livedoor Co., in a class-action suit that claimed people had been duped into making dubious investments in the company.
The court awarded damages totaling ¥7.6 billion, Kyodo News reported. The suit was filed by 3,340 individual and corporate shareholders demanding ¥23 billion.
Horie, 36, an Internet startup star before his 2006 arrest, was later found guilty of securities laws violations. The Tokyo District Court sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison, a relatively harsh ruling for white collar crime, in 2007.