Father, son arrested in Japan get US prison for Ponzi scheme

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By KEN RITTER

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two former investment executives arrested in Japan were sentenced Tuesday to five years in a U.S. prison for their roles in what federal authorities called a $1.5 billion international Ponzi scheme with 10,000 victims in the U.S. and abroad.

Junzo Suzuki and his son, Paul Suzuki, apologized to the judge, their family and their victims before each was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to five years in prison and three years of supervised release, according to court records and their attorney, Richard Wright.

The father-son defendants pleaded guilty in January to one count of wire fraud and avoided trial on 15 federal fraud charges. Prosecutors have compared the case involving Las Vegas-based MRI International Inc. with the biggest-ever U.S. fraud cases.

U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro scheduled a June 28 hearing at which the government, defense attorneys and lawyers for victims will focus on a possible $141 million in restitution.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-las-vegas-japan-arrests-9289a0b2169022b138ac792d0296b4e4

[AllaN01Bear]

1. like father, like son. this is against the law but yet they keep at it.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Gee they got caught and sentenced to hard time, must not have had very good connections /nt

[C Moon]

3. White collar crimes should get tougher sentences. 1.5 billion dollars. 10,000 people.

[XanaDUer2]

6. Yes five years is a joke nt

[bringthePaine]

4. let's fix recidivist bullshit: where's the reparations? fine should be 2x the take from the crimes,

and they should pay for their own imprisonment in maximum security facility - that should fulfill
the deterrent function of criminal punishment

[Princess Turandot]

5. Back in 2019, the owner of the company (Edwin Fujinaga) was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison

For those concerned about the money impact, a gross judgment of ~$600 million had already been levied against various involved individuals a few years earlier, although they were able to find and seize only the $141 million referenced above. The criminal cases took longer.

The company (which operated between 2008 and 2013) sold investment certificates primarily to people in Japan. They believed they were investing in a medical billing company that purchased receivables from medical providers at a discount, and then collected those receivables at a higher percentage from the insurance companies, because MRI was 'very skilled at this type of negotiation/work'. The investments were to be used to buy new receivables. This was to bring the investors at least a 6% return. In reality, the principals used the new investments to payout $$ to previous investors and buy themselves nice things. (The scheme bears some resemblance to the Tower Financial mega-swindle.)

The fellas referenced above were the marketers in Japan, but the company was incorporated in Nevada. Between the distance, the language difference, and their preferred 'customers' being retirees living on a pension, they must've thought that they were pretty slick. The Suzukis even tried the 'this happened in the US, but we were far away in Japan' to 'defend' themselves.