Police plan to place the former president of a company that leased out luxury watches on an international wanted list for alleged embezzlement on suspicion that he sold timepieces borrowed from owners.
Tokyo police on Tuesday issued a domestic arrest warrant for Takazumi Kominato, 42, for allegedly selling a Rolex wristwatch borrowed from a male client to a secondhand dealer in Osaka Prefecture for ¥650,000 ($4,380) in January.
Kominato’s company, Neo Reverse, ran a rental service called Toke Match, through which luxury watches borrowed from owners are rented out to others for a fixed fee based on their value.
As of August 2023, Neo Reverse had 1,500 watches deposited with it, according to its website.
But on Jan. 31, the company abruptly announced that it had ended the Toke Match service and that the business was being dissolved.
Since then, reports have emerged about watches not being returned to their owners and deposited timepieces being sold via online auctions.
The Metropolitan Police Department has received 27 reports since February in relation to the Toke Match service. It is estimated that approximately 70 watches, with a total market value of around ¥100 million, have been sold without the permission of their owners.
According to investigators, Kominato boarded a Dubai-bound flight at Narita Airport on the same day the company closure was announced, prompting suspicions that he had absconded.
Immediately prior to his departure, he visited antique dealers in Tokyo and Osaka, where he allegedly sold luxury wristwatches that customers had entrusted to him, investigative sources said Thursday.
The Metropolitan Police Department is expected to issue an international arrest warrant through the National Police Agency and other relevant agencies.