Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tokyo cops: Man, son nabbed in Michael Jackson licensing scam

Tatsuya Hara
Tatsuya Hara

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male company executive and his son for allegedly swindling a man out of more than 10 million yen in a scam involving an animation that used the name of the late Michael Jackson, police said on Tuesday.

In 2011, Sadao Hara, 66, and his son, Tatsuya Hara, 40, fraudulently obtained a total of 11 million yen from the victim, a resident of Tokyo, after presenting him with a bogus licensing contract for the anime, reports TBS News (Mar. 14).

Hara and his son founded company Michael Jackson Japan. In November 2010, they showed the victim a fake memorandum of understanding that indicated the license had been obtained from the estate of the late entertainer. The money was transferred to a company account between January and September of the following year, according to Sankei Sports (Mar. 14).

Both suspects, who have been charged with fraud, deny the charges. Police are investigating the possibility that the pair committed additional crimes.

The victim told police that the total damage in the case amounts to about 260 million yen. “I truly believed that it was an official license. I’m so full of feelings of betrayal,” the victim said. “I want to fling this anger [at them] somehow.”