TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a member of a criminal syndicate for allegedly lending money to a woman in debt at a host club at an interest rate that exceeded the legal limit, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Jan. 30).
Between July and September 2022, Taiyo Taguchi, a 36-year-old member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, allegedly received the equivalent of 891,000 yen in interest from the woman, aged in her 20s.
According to police, the amount exceeds that allowed under the Investment Law.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of charging high interest rates, Taguchi, who lives in Toshima Ward, denied the allegations. He said, “I have absolutely no recollection of lending money or receiving interest.”
On January 28, police conducted a search of the office of a Yamaguchi-gumi affiliated gang in Minato Ward as a part of the investigation.
The woman owed approximately 800,000 yen to a host club in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward. She then borrowed 250,000 yen from the suspect in March 2022.
In a contract signed between Taguchi and the woman, she allegedly promised to work at an adult-entertainment establishment run by an acquaintance of the suspect. She also agreed to appear in sexually explicit videos as “collateral” for the debt.
At one point, the suspect also showed up at the woman’s family’s house to collect the money. The incident came to light after the woman contacted Tokyo police in October 2023.
