TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male executive known as “The great con man” for embezzling over 800 million yen by depositing the proceeds from the unauthorized sale of land into accounts of a company he managed, reports TBS News (Feb. 19).
In December 2022, Yasuo Matsuzawa, 74, and one other suspect for allegedly working with accomplices to embezzle 832 million yen from the sale of land in Higashimatsuyama City, Saitama Prefecture that was owned by real estate company Hanamasa.
The land is worth over 1 billion yen, police said.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of embezzlement, Matsuzawa, who lives in Shibuya Ward, denied the allegations. He said, “Embezzlement in the course of business is unthinkable.”
According to police, Matsuzawa fraudulently altered land registration forms in order to impersonate the representative of the company that owned the land.
The suspect also had a woman who worked in accounting at Hanamasa and others transfer the proceeds into two accounts for a company he managed.
The embezzled funds were used for investments and the purchase of luxury cars, police said. Matsuzawa is also believed to have used 250 million yen of the amount for the purchase and maintenance of a gravel transport ship.
Known as “The great con man,” he is believed to have been in the process of obtaining funds to intervene in construction of a Self-Defense Force base currently underway on Mageshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.
