ICSA TODAY
defendant Saito also devised additional schemes to earn even
larger sums of money from clients through divine spiritual
readings. As a part of these schemes, defendant Saito
appointed defendant Sano as the first spiritual diviner and then
also appointed executive managers of affiliated companies of
the group, one after another, as spiritual diviners. Thus,
defendant Saito made them practice the spiritual readings and
increase their sales dramatically. In particular, at Entrance
Akasaka, defendant Sano and defendant Fumitoshi served as
instructors of the Divine Spiritual Power Cultivation Seminar for
executive managers and employees of affiliated companies of
the group. The group had advertised that individuals could
obtain the divine spiritual power if they completed several
sessions of the seminar.
The typical modus operandi of the Shinsekai group was to
recruit mainly women in their thirties and forties to their retail
outlets called salons with such words as “Why don’t you try out
our healing service?” while the group concealed its religious
nature. At these salons, the recruited clients were required to
take the relatively low-priced service of mediation/transfer of
divine spiritual light repeatedly meanwhile, through follow-up
conversations called follow, the clients were led to believe that
the divine spiritual light had the potency to cure any disease/
illness and to increase one’s fortune, and that very bad things
would occur if one did not keep receiving the light. Then, the
group led the clients to expensive divine spiritual readings,
invocation services, and other related charges, and so on by
asserting that such readings and invocation services practiced
by spiritual diviners could identify and solve the causes of the
clients’ troubles and worries, such as illness and slumping
businesses they made the clients pay large amounts of cash as
offerings to God’s alter. In principle, the criminal acts in the case
herein had been conducted as in the modus operandi
described above.
Defendant Toru Saito was a director of Shinsekai Ltd. and was in
the position to manage and control overall activities of the
Shinsekai group that had E2 (E-square) Ltd., Entrance Akasaka
Ltd., and other affiliated companies under its umbrella.
Defendant Takashi Sano was in the position of managing the
overall operations of the Entrance group, which consisted of
Entrance Akasaka Ltd. and two other affiliated companies.
Defendant Fumitoshi Asahara (hereinafter referred to as
defendant Fumitoshi) and defendant Yoshiko Asahara
(hereinafter referred to as defendant Yoshiko) were in the
position, as its representative directors, of managing the overall
operations of Entrance Akasaka Ltd. They had been
conducting divine spiritual readings, the invocatory, and
other related services as spiritual diviners with divine psychic
power. The Shinsekai group was a religious front for a large
number of people who shared a common objective of
fraudulently obtaining money from clients under the pretext of
an invocatory service and related fees they achieved this goal
by asserting that their spiritual diviners could define the causes
of clients’ slumping business, illness, and other troubles and
worries, and that they could without exception relieve the
clients from such troubles and worries, while these spiritual
diviners in fact did not have such abilities. Under the
command and supervision of defendant Toru Saito, officers and
workers of the companies under the Shinsekai group had been
sharing tasks of recruiting clients, receiving and hosting clients,
and providing spiritual readings by diviners and invocatory
servicing thus, they had been repeating activities to swindle
money from clients under the pretexts of invocatory service
and related fees.
1. Defendant Saito, in conspiracy with Akie Yoshida, also known
as Akie Sugimoto (hereinafter referred to as Yoshida), who was
a director of the above-said E2 Ltd. and others, pretended as if
Yoshida had the abilities to define causes of clients’ slumping
business, illness, and other troubles and worries, and to relieve
the clients from such troubles and worries without exception,
although she did not have such abilities and schemed to
swindle money from [victim A] and two other clients of E2 Ltd.
who consulted with the group regarding the sluggishness of
their corporate businesses. Thus, defendant Saito, on 13
occasions at four locations, including the retail outlet of E2 Ltd.
at 8-5-28-#1305 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, between
approximately April 15, 2004 and December 3, 2005, told lies to
the clients and made them mistakenly believe that their
troubles and worries were acts of residual ghosts and
ancestors’ spirits so that the defendants could solve their
problems by offering prayers through the diviners. Defendant
Saito received 11,900,000 yen total in cash from [victim A] and
two others under the pretexts of invocatory service and related
fees in seven separate payments made between approximately
May 19, 2004 and December 11, 2005 at two locations,
including the above-mentioned premise of E2 Ltd., as detailed
in the List of Probative Facts of the Crimes.
2. The four defendants schemed in conspiracy to swindle
money from two clients of Entrance Akasaka, including [victim
B], who had been suffering uterine fibroids they pretended as
if they had abilities to define causes of the clients’ troubles
and worries such as illness, and to relieve the clients from
such troubles and worries without exception, although they
did not have such abilities. Thus, the defendants, on four
occasions at two locations, including the headquarters of
Entrance Akasaka at Storia Shinagawa #2801, 2-16-8 Konan,
Minato-ku, Tokyo, between approximately May 21, 2006 and
August 30 in the same year, lied and made the clients
mistakenly believe that their uterine fibroids had been
caused by toxins that originated from medication, and that
they would be cured if they offered a one-million-yen prayer.
The defendants received 1,500,000 yen total in cash from
[victim B] and another client under the pretexts of invocatory
service fees in three separate payments made between
approximately May 29, 2006 and September 16 in the same
year at two locations, including their retail outlet of Entrance
Akasaka at Prudential Tower Residence #3705, 2-13-14
Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, as detailed in the List of
Probative Facts of the Crimes 2.
Each of these acts was carried out as a part of the organization’s
conduct and was performed by the organization to practice
criminal fraud to deceive people into transferring their
properties to them.
20
…mediation/transfer
of divine spiritual
light was the main
product for sale…
defendant Saito also devised additional schemes to earn even
larger sums of money from clients through divine spiritual
readings. As a part of these schemes, defendant Saito
appointed defendant Sano as the first spiritual diviner and then
also appointed executive managers of affiliated companies of
the group, one after another, as spiritual diviners. Thus,
defendant Saito made them practice the spiritual readings and
increase their sales dramatically. In particular, at Entrance
Akasaka, defendant Sano and defendant Fumitoshi served as
instructors of the Divine Spiritual Power Cultivation Seminar for
executive managers and employees of affiliated companies of
the group. The group had advertised that individuals could
obtain the divine spiritual power if they completed several
sessions of the seminar.
The typical modus operandi of the Shinsekai group was to
recruit mainly women in their thirties and forties to their retail
outlets called salons with such words as “Why don’t you try out
our healing service?” while the group concealed its religious
nature. At these salons, the recruited clients were required to
take the relatively low-priced service of mediation/transfer of
divine spiritual light repeatedly meanwhile, through follow-up
conversations called follow, the clients were led to believe that
the divine spiritual light had the potency to cure any disease/
illness and to increase one’s fortune, and that very bad things
would occur if one did not keep receiving the light. Then, the
group led the clients to expensive divine spiritual readings,
invocation services, and other related charges, and so on by
asserting that such readings and invocation services practiced
by spiritual diviners could identify and solve the causes of the
clients’ troubles and worries, such as illness and slumping
businesses they made the clients pay large amounts of cash as
offerings to God’s alter. In principle, the criminal acts in the case
herein had been conducted as in the modus operandi
described above.
Defendant Toru Saito was a director of Shinsekai Ltd. and was in
the position to manage and control overall activities of the
Shinsekai group that had E2 (E-square) Ltd., Entrance Akasaka
Ltd., and other affiliated companies under its umbrella.
Defendant Takashi Sano was in the position of managing the
overall operations of the Entrance group, which consisted of
Entrance Akasaka Ltd. and two other affiliated companies.
Defendant Fumitoshi Asahara (hereinafter referred to as
defendant Fumitoshi) and defendant Yoshiko Asahara
(hereinafter referred to as defendant Yoshiko) were in the
position, as its representative directors, of managing the overall
operations of Entrance Akasaka Ltd. They had been
conducting divine spiritual readings, the invocatory, and
other related services as spiritual diviners with divine psychic
power. The Shinsekai group was a religious front for a large
number of people who shared a common objective of
fraudulently obtaining money from clients under the pretext of
an invocatory service and related fees they achieved this goal
by asserting that their spiritual diviners could define the causes
of clients’ slumping business, illness, and other troubles and
worries, and that they could without exception relieve the
clients from such troubles and worries, while these spiritual
diviners in fact did not have such abilities. Under the
command and supervision of defendant Toru Saito, officers and
workers of the companies under the Shinsekai group had been
sharing tasks of recruiting clients, receiving and hosting clients,
and providing spiritual readings by diviners and invocatory
servicing thus, they had been repeating activities to swindle
money from clients under the pretexts of invocatory service
and related fees.
1. Defendant Saito, in conspiracy with Akie Yoshida, also known
as Akie Sugimoto (hereinafter referred to as Yoshida), who was
a director of the above-said E2 Ltd. and others, pretended as if
Yoshida had the abilities to define causes of clients’ slumping
business, illness, and other troubles and worries, and to relieve
the clients from such troubles and worries without exception,
although she did not have such abilities and schemed to
swindle money from [victim A] and two other clients of E2 Ltd.
who consulted with the group regarding the sluggishness of
their corporate businesses. Thus, defendant Saito, on 13
occasions at four locations, including the retail outlet of E2 Ltd.
at 8-5-28-#1305 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, between
approximately April 15, 2004 and December 3, 2005, told lies to
the clients and made them mistakenly believe that their
troubles and worries were acts of residual ghosts and
ancestors’ spirits so that the defendants could solve their
problems by offering prayers through the diviners. Defendant
Saito received 11,900,000 yen total in cash from [victim A] and
two others under the pretexts of invocatory service and related
fees in seven separate payments made between approximately
May 19, 2004 and December 11, 2005 at two locations,
including the above-mentioned premise of E2 Ltd., as detailed
in the List of Probative Facts of the Crimes.
2. The four defendants schemed in conspiracy to swindle
money from two clients of Entrance Akasaka, including [victim
B], who had been suffering uterine fibroids they pretended as
if they had abilities to define causes of the clients’ troubles
and worries such as illness, and to relieve the clients from
such troubles and worries without exception, although they
did not have such abilities. Thus, the defendants, on four
occasions at two locations, including the headquarters of
Entrance Akasaka at Storia Shinagawa #2801, 2-16-8 Konan,
Minato-ku, Tokyo, between approximately May 21, 2006 and
August 30 in the same year, lied and made the clients
mistakenly believe that their uterine fibroids had been
caused by toxins that originated from medication, and that
they would be cured if they offered a one-million-yen prayer.
The defendants received 1,500,000 yen total in cash from
[victim B] and another client under the pretexts of invocatory
service fees in three separate payments made between
approximately May 29, 2006 and September 16 in the same
year at two locations, including their retail outlet of Entrance
Akasaka at Prudential Tower Residence #3705, 2-13-14
Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, as detailed in the List of
Probative Facts of the Crimes 2.
Each of these acts was carried out as a part of the organization’s
conduct and was performed by the organization to practice
criminal fraud to deceive people into transferring their
properties to them.
20
…mediation/transfer
of divine spiritual
light was the main
product for sale…
