Kazutsugi Nami
{{Short description|Japanese businessman}}
{{nihongo|Kazutsugi Nami|波 和二|Nami Kazutsugi|extra=b. 19 May 1933 in Mie Prefecture}} is a Japanese businessman and chairman of Tokyo-based bedding supplier Ladies & Gentlemen (L&G).{{cite news|url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090206a1.html|title=L&G execs arrested over investor fraud|date=6 February 2009|accessdate=8 February 2009|newspaper=The Japan Times}} He has been involved in a number of fraudulent schemes since the 1970s, and was arrested most recently on 4 February 2009 on suspicion of orchestrating a massive investor fraud involving the "Enten" quasi-currency.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2009/feb/05/japan-kazutsugi-nami-ladies-gentlemen|title=Arrests made in what could be biggest investment scam in Japanese history|date=5 February 2009|accessdate=5 February 2009|newspaper=The Guardian | location=London | first=Justin | last=McCurry}}
APO Japan
In the 1970s, Nami became vice president of APO Japan Co., an auto equipment sales company in Tokyo. The company was involved in a pyramid scheme, collecting investments from about 250,000 people in a scam based on sales of exhaust gas removal devices. The company's operations became a social problem, and it went bankrupt in 1975.{{cite news|url=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20090208TDY02305.htm|title=L&G boss boasted of economic know-how, employed ruthless management style|date=8 February 2009|accessdate=8 February 2009|newspaper=Daily Yomiuri}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}
Nozakku
In 1973, before the bankruptcy of APO Japan, Nami established Nozakku Co., a company which sold "magic stones" that were claimed to turn tapwater into natural water.{{cite news|url=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20090207-OYT1T00164.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20090210212752/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20090207-OYT1T00164.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 February 2009|script-title=ja:ウォン天・ドル天構想も、波容疑者「マルチ人生」３０年|date=7 February 2009|accessdate=9 February 2009|newspaper=Yomiuri Shimbun|language= Japanese}} The company's annual sales reached more than 2 billion yen a year before it too went bankrupt in 1978. Nami was arrested in September 1978 by Mie Prefectural police on suspicion of fraud, and was sentenced to prison.
PHC
L&G and "Enten"
{{Main|Enten controversy}}
After being released from prison, Nami established the Tokyo-based bedding company L&G in August 1987. The company allegedly derived its income from a pyramid scheme. At L&G, he invented the "Enten" quasi-currency (literally meaning Divine Money in Japanese). In February 2007, L&G dividends were distributed in Enten, rather than in cash, resulting in lawsuits and cancellations of accounts. In October 2007, police searched L&Gs headquarters in Tokyo, suspecting that the company had violated investment laws, and the company declared bankruptcy in November 2007.{{cite news|title=Bedding company chairman, workers nabbed over massive investment scandal |work=The Mainichi Daily News |date=5 February 2009 |accessdate=9 February 2009 |url=http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090205p2a00m0na014000c.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206082502/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090205p2a00m0na014000c.html |archivedate=February 6, 2009 }} Nami was arrested in Tokyo on 4 February 2009 on suspicion of large-scale investor fraud along with twenty-one of his associates. He insists that he is innocent, and is the victim and not the villain. On March 18, 2010, Nami was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his scheme. [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/LEAD%3A+Bedding+supplier+chief+given+18+years+for+investment+fraud.-a0221847696]
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://enten.at.webry.info/ Kazutsugi Nami's blog] {{in lang|ja}}
{{2008 economic crisis}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nami, Kazutsugi}}