The Japanese manga artist Tsukada Masami, known for works like "Saint Seiya," revealed that he had been exploited by his former agent who was responsible for the company's finances for a long time, resulting in the embezzlement of a large amount of money.
On the 2nd day of last week, in a press conference held in Tokyo, Mieuchi Masami revealed that the three companies she represented had been stolen about 4.6 billion yen in funds by a former senior executive and his affiliated individuals over at least six years. After deducting the 1.8 billion yen already paid, Mieuchi's side filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court on that day, demanding compensation of about 2.886 billion yen from seven individuals and four companies.
The 72-year-old Taketa Masame is a well-known Japanese manga artist, with renowned works such as "Saint Seiya" and "Kung-Fu Wudang". The three companies that filed the lawsuit include "Taketa Production", which is responsible for managing the copyrights of her works.
According to the indictment and other documents, the man involved was originally a senior executive of the relevant company. He also served as Kay’s agent, taking charge of the accounting affairs of three companies and handling business dealings with external companies. Therefore, he had access to information about the flow of company funds and the licensing arrangements for the works.
Che Tian Yifang alleged that, at least from 2018 to 2024, the man transferred funds from three companies into several bank accounts that he controlled, but which were operated under different company names, without the permission of the companies.
In addition, it was also alleged that he altered the normal payment process for licensing fees. He allowed companies that have business dealings with Kitaida to direct the licensing fees that should be paid to Kitaida’s subsidiaries directly into other legal entities under his control.
To cover up the flow of funds, the individuals involved were even accused of secretly setting up a company, which was disguised as an 'associated company' under Katai's enterprise. This company was then used as the remittance account for some of the transaction partners.
Che Tian Yifang stated that a total of 7 people were involved in the related capital embezzlement, including this former senior executive. After the large amount of capital flowed out, some of it was used to invest in encrypted assets, namely virtual currencies and other similar projects.
This anomaly in funding that has persisted for many years was not noticed by Chida himself.
According to Japanese media reports, around February 2024, the Tokyo Tax Service launched a tax investigation against the relevant companies and discovered an unusual flow of funds. They questioned Kazuta regarding this matter, and the incident was thus exposed.
According to Che Tian, after the matter was exposed, this former senior executive admitted to Che Tian that there was an 'improper outflow of funds', but at the same time argued that he did so 'out of concern for the teacher'.
As of now, approximately 18 billion yen in involved funds have been repaid. However, approximately 28.86 billion yen in losses remain unrecovered.
Therefore, three companies under the Chida family filed a lawsuit against seven individuals and four corporations at the Tokyo District Court on the 2nd day, demanding compensation for the remaining losses.
At that press conference, Masumi Tsurida recalled that at the beginning of when the incident was exposed, he found it hard to believe that such things had actually happened.
"I truly couldn't believe it at the time." Ché Tiān said, "It turns out that someone can actually betray another person's trust for their own selfish desires without a care. That helpless and unbearable pain still makes me unable to let go of."
He also previously stated that due to having almost all of his financial transactions handled by this former broker, he even felt a sense of distrust towards people after the incident became public.
However, Kazuta said that he will continue to create in the future, “in order to continue painting for the readers.”
Currently, claims by the Kawada side that 4.6 billion yen has been stolen, some of the funds have flowed into crypto asset investments, and multiple people are involved, are all claims made by the plaintiff in the civil lawsuit. The responsibility for these matters remains to be determined through further judicial proceedings.
