Kazuhiko Asakawa, former president of AIJ Investment Advisors Co., was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for orchestrating a high-profile fraud case that cost his pension fund clients some ¥24.8 billion.

The Tokyo District Court sentenced his subordinates — former AIJ executive Shigeko Takahashi and Hideaki Nishimura, president of AIJ subsidiary ITM Securities Co. — to seven-year terms. The three defendants were also fined a total of ¥15.6 billion.

The court further ruled that Asakawa must forfeit about ¥570 million of his foreign assets in Hong Kong.