Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tokyo police obtain arrest warrant for owner of celebrity playpen in Nishi Azabu

Tsunekiyo Ono
Tsunekiyo Ono

TOKYO (TR) – The organized crime unit of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Tuesday received a warrant for the arrest of the owner of a luxury apartment building in the Nishi Azabu district of Minato Ward for false property registration, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Mar. 6).

Daisuke Shioda, 44, the former president of real estate company ABC Home, is accused of disrupting the bidding of a court-ordered auction of Geihinkan Nishi Azabu, a members-only complex known to be frequented by celebrities, athletes and gangsters.

Officers from the same division successfully apprehended the suspect’s 45-year-old brother Yuji Shioda, Tsunekiyo Ono, 63, and two others. All four suspects have denied the charges.

ABC Home, which was established in 1994, and Shioda began acquiring the units of the building in 1998. Within six years, they had purchased all eight.

In September 2006, according to Jiji Press, Shioda used apartment 401 of the building as collateral for a loan of 450 million yen from Shoko Chukin Bank. By October 2008, repayments had fallen in arrears.

In May 2009, after the Tokyo District Court ruled that the property was to be put up for auction on behalf of creditor Shoko Chukin Bank, it was revealed that a ninth unit had been registered in the name of another individual.

According to the Sankei Shimbun, Shioda is suspected of illegally registering a supplemental apartment (number 402), constructed above 401, to disrupt the auction of the entire building.

Shioda had previously been arrested for tax evasion in August 2009, for which he received a two-year sentence suspended sentence for four years and a fine of 180 million yen. ABC Home filed for bankruptcy that same month.

Shukan Bunshun reported last year in an article about organized crime and the entertainment world that singer Takako Uehara, of the idol group Speed, is a regular customer at Geihinkan. She subsequently filed a libel lawsuit against the publication.

Also in 2011, Shukan Gendai said that Shioda was injured in an incident last year at Geihinkan that involved a former Yamaguchi-gumi member.