The former president of Nishiyama Farm, who has been a fugitive for about four years, was arrested Wednesday over his alleged involvement in a multibillion-yen scam, after being taken into custody by Indonesian authorities and deported to Japan.
Yusuke Yamazaki had been on the international wanted list for his alleged involvement in investment fraud involving overseas fruit sales.
Since the summer of 2015, Okayama Prefecture-based Nishiyama Farm had been soliciting investments by falsely promising returns, saying that if an individual “purchases fruits or other items with credit cards, we will resell them overseas and pay you back along with the profit.”
Nishiyama Farm is believed to have collected a total of around ¥13.3 billion from around 930 people across Japan. However, the company effectively went bankrupt in February 2019, which prompted the police to raid relevant venues in May of the same year.
Police suspect that Yamazaki, 43, orchestrated the scheme, and will investigate the flow of funds.
Along with five other former executives, Yamazaki is also suspected of swindling around ¥7.8 million from a woman in her 30s between 2018 and 2019, falsely promising her that she would receive dividends on a monthly basis.
The five former executives were arrested in October 2021 in relation to the fruit resale case and were found guilty of violating the investment law, although this was separate to the suspected defrauding of the woman.
Yamazaki arrived at Narita Airport at around 6.30 a.m. Wednesday. He wore a black hoodie and his shoulder-length hair half pulled back.
According to Indonesian authorities, Yamazaki was found trying to illegally enter Malaysia by boat on Jan. 31.
In February 2020, Yamazaki left for Hong Kong and traveled to various countries including Thailand and Turkey. He entered Indonesia in April 2021, obtained a short-term visa and worked at a factory near Jakarta.
While in Indonesia, Yamazaki lived in the affluent neighborhood of Pluit, north of Jakarta, and worked at a steel company located in West Java, but it was not clear what his title was, local media Tempo reported.
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