TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested two executives from a payment processing company for carrying out a money-laundering operation for funds that had been obtained by a fraud group, reports TBS News (Dec. 3).
Yuichiro Ozaki, 47, and Takahisa Hayashi, 40, are executives at SmartPayment, located in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Between May 10 and June 17, 2024, the pair is suspected of setting up two accounts at financial institutions for 25 million yen in funds while knowing that the money was defrauded by a tokushu sagi (specialized fraud) group.
They then withdrew the deposited cash and returned it to the group in exchange for compensation.
Police have not revealed whether the two suspects have admitted to charges of violating the Organized Crime Punishment Act for concealment of criminal proceeds, citing it would hinder the investigation.
Police believe that the suspects conducted similar transactions with approximately 313 million yen that was defrauded from around 1,000 people between August and June of last year.
SmartPayment is a payment agency whose clients include adult entertainment establishments. When victims of fraud asked for refunds, the company reportedly returned only a portion of the money, claiming that it was a company that only handled payment collection and was unaware of the fraud. This was an attempt to avoid having its accounts frozen, police said.
