TOKYO (TR) – A man in his 60s on trial for defrauding club hostesses out of millions of yen with a fake “living inheritance” scheme told the Tokyo District Court earlier this month that he committed the crimes simply because he “wanted to look cool.”
Masahiro Nakatani, aged 60 upon his arrest last year, is accused of swindling a total of 6.5 million yen from five young women. During his first hearing on September 4, the court heard details of his crude methods and highly speculative repayment plans, reports the site for weekly tabloid Friday (Sep. 16).
According to the prosecution, Nakatani approached a hostess in her 20s working in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward in July of last year. “I want to give you a 5 million yen living inheritance,” he allegedly told her. “But you need to pay 1 million yen upfront to cover the gift tax.”
As soon as the victim handed over the cash, Nakatani vanished. The crime came to light after the hostess, unable to contact him, consulted the police. Investigations revealed Nakatani had used the exact same tactic to dupe four other women.
“Offering financial support”
Appearing in court with a shaved head and deeply wrinkled face, Nakatani looked older than his 60 years, though he made a point of dressing in a high-end streetwear black t-shirt and tight white jeans.
When pressed by his defense lawyer on why he resorted to fraud, Nakatani fell into a 30-second silence before admitting, “A big factor is that I wanted to show off.”
Later, when the judge asked him to elaborate, he added, “To use Kansai dialect, I wanted to look cool. I wanted to gain their interest by offering financial support.”
“Look cool”
Nakatani admitted that the stolen funds were spent on living expenses, dining out, and “buying clothes for other girls.”
This confession drew a sharp glare and a heavy sigh from his common-law wife of over 20 years, who took the stand as a witness. Operating under the belief that her husband was just a hardworking construction subcontractor, she expressed disgust that Nakatani targeted victims the same age as their own disabled daughter in her 20s.
“If he does this again, I will cut all ties and not let him see our daughter,” she told the court.
Fully intended to refund them
Despite severing contact with the victims, Nakatani absurdly claimed he had fully intended to refund them. When prosecutors pointed out the contradiction of him blocking the women’s phone numbers, he blamed technological incompetence, claiming, “I’m not good with mobile phones, so I didn’t realize they were blocked.”
Nakatani insisted his true profession was event planning, and that he intended to repay the 6.5 million yen using advance fees from a future gig. When the judge questioned how a single event could net him that much pure profit after expenses, Nakatani confidently declared, “The event is huge.”
Unmoved by his grandiose claims, prosecutors demanded a four-year prison sentence, citing the highly habitual nature of scamming five women in such a short period.
The verdict is scheduled to be handed down on October 20.
