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When casio is mentioned, everyone will think of its watches and calculators, but it is estimated that many people do not know that it is also the subject of the first transnational money laundering case in Japanese history, that is, the "Casio fraud" money laundering case in the mouth of professionals.
In a year from March 1997 to March 1998, Casio's overseas investment funds changed from $100 million to $44 million, losing more than 50% of the principal.
one
First, tell the main characters and backgrounds of the story.
There are 6 characters in this Casio-related money laundering case:
1. Zuo Shixiu, then the deputy director of casio's treasury department, the main participant in the money laundering case, and the most tragic;
2. Hasegawa Mitsuyuki, who originally studied beauty in New York, but was obsessed with finance and became a professional financial broker;
3. Mr. T, a Japanese expatriate living in New York who does not know his real name, a Japanese financial player;
4. Kelso, an American, experienced an unusually mysterious experience, is said to be a former CIA agent, and is a Freemason, a real player behind the scenes, the person who benefited the most from the money laundering case.
5. German Augen Kaiser, accomplice of Kelso, extra 1;
6. Mysterious and generous Japanese investor, accomplice of Kelso, extras 2.
Background of Casio's transnational money laundering case:
In the 1990s, when the interest rate on deposits in Japan was low for a long time, or even zero interest rates, and that era was the climax of a large number of Japanese companies going out, so many large Japanese companies would use their precipitated profits for overseas project development and financial operations, and Casio was no exception.
In February 1997, Zuo Shixiu, who was then the deputy head of the treasury department of Casio's headquarters, proposed to remit 100 million US dollars of funds to overseas financial management institutions in three batches to obtain appropriate returns.
Money Laundering - Graph Source Network
two
Zuo Shixiu is the protagonist of the "Casio Fraud" money laundering case, but he is actually the most tragic character, in this case he did not get much benefit (at least on the surface), but he had to live a turbulent life after the crime, and eventually went to jail.
In 1997, at the age of 45, when he had become the under-secretary of the Treasury Department at Casio Headquarters and was very promising to become a minister, such a young minister is rare in the entire Japanese business community, and it can be said responsibly that Zuo Shixiu's future is bright.
But the appearance of a person made Zuo Shixiu gradually walk from heaven to hell.
This person is Mitsuyuki Hasegawa (hereinafter referred to as Hasegawa), another major figure in this case.
Hasegawa's family is well-off, his father runs a beauty chain store in Kyushu, Japan, in order to let his son successfully inherit the family business, his father sent Hasegawa to the United States to study beauty.
However, Hasegawa did not do his job, and after arriving in the United States, he was attracted by the financial atmosphere in New York, hung up the cloak of "international business consultant" for himself, and became a "fund manager" who was not professional.
How did Sasei and Hasegawa meet?
In the 1990s, when Japan was influenced by the U.S. financial industry and many foreign securities companies represented by Japanese agents appeared, the sales director of a foreign securities company in Tokyo introduced Hasegawa and Sashiro as an intermediary.
Why do two people know the sales director of a securities company?
Zuo Shixiu is the deputy director of Casio's capital department, and he needs to preserve and increase the value of Casio's precipitated funds, so investing in foreign securities is one of the common channels, and it is normal to understand.
Hasegawa, as a "fund manager" in New York, often travels between Tokyo and New York, and it is normal to maintain dealings with foreign securities companies in Tokyo.
After Zuo Shixiu and Hasegawa met, perhaps Hasegawa showed very professional ability, perhaps Hasegawa promised Zuo Shixiu a benefit fee for unseemly, but no matter what tricks were used, Hasegawa made Zuo Shixiu believe in him and let him dispatch Casio's funds in the Bank of America.
At the end of the day, Hasegawa is just a half-baked financial practitioner with little depth in this field, but the emergence of another person has changed all that.
three
Mr. T is a Japanese expatriate living in New York, and his real identity has not been revealed in this case, but it is certain that he is a very successful financial player because he has his own premium apartment in New York's Times Square, which is expensive, and he also has his own vacation villa in Florida, which is rumored to be worth as much as $700 million.
As a professional financial player, Mr. T's ability to make big talk is naturally very strong, and at that time, he actively recruited Japanese companies to participate in it under the guise of "the Fed's high-return project with the International Monetary Fund".
At this time, Hasegawa was looking for the right large investment opportunity to invest Casio's funds so that he could get his own rebate returns.
Hasegawa and Mr. T hit it off, and the two set a goal in New York to raise $100 million for a major project led by Mr. T by December 1996.
It is understood that in Mr. T's description, the income of the investment project can reach 70%-112% in 1 year, that is, the principal of 30 million yuan will have a return of 21 million to 33.6 million US dollars.
Seeing the huge returns, Hasegawa thought of a bright future, but he did not seem to understand the laws of finance at all, because high returns are always accompanied by high risks.
But Mr. T understands human nature, and he uses high kickbacks to make Hasegawa throw the risk out of the clouds.
The two men agreed that the first investment would be $30 million, the annual interest would be 8%, and after a year, casio would be returned to Casio Company for $32.4 million, and after the funds arrived, Hasegawa would receive a 5% rebate in batches, that is, $150; at the same time, the two people would also share the high income of $17.1 million to $29.7 million.
In fact, as a half-hanger, Hasegawa did not think about these huge gains at all, he just wanted to recover the 5% and $1.5 million rebate, which was also the main motivation for his cooperation with Mr. T.
As for whether the investment project is true or not, and whether the principal will be lost, Hasegawa does not care much, he only cares about his own interests.
Seeing this, you can think of Zuo Shixiu's tragic fate.
shop
On March 13, 1997, Casio's $30 million from HSBC in Tokyo was transferred out and on March 19, in a Cashio account at Barclays Bank in London, England, on March 19. Along the way, the account circulation is carried out in the name of Casio.
Then on April 9, Hasegawa received his first commission of $500,000, and on April 10, Mr. T had an extra $25 million on his barclays bank account, leaving Casio with only $4.5 million left on barclays' account.
In order to complete the bureau, Mr. T told Hasegawa that he had found another investment project, the Canary Islands Development Project. The developer of the project is a German named Augen Kaiser, who is the No. 1 extra of Kelso, the big boss American in the whole case.
Augenkaiser and Mr. T reached an investment cooperation agreement, and the two agreed that Mr. T would invest $25 million and earn 100% after one year.
That is, after a year, the principal plus the income, Mr. T can get 50 million US dollars.
It's another mouth-watering business, but is there really pizza falling from the sky?
Obviously not.
On May 8, 1997, the German Augenkaiser received $25 million in investment money from Mr. T on his account at Alpha Credit Bank.
As mentioned earlier, there was $4.5 million left in the Casio account at Barclays Bank in London, and the $4.5 million was later transferred to Mr. T's account, which was subsequently allocated to Mr. Hasegawa for $1 million, Mr. T himself received $2.5 million, and the remaining $1 million was given to Shigeo Hashimoto, the head of the "Japan Cultural Exchange Consortium" in New York at the time (since Shigeo Hashimoto was not directly involved in the money laundering process throughout the case, it will not be detailed).
So far, Casio's first investment of $30 million has been completely "washed away".
And the big boss hidden behind the whole case - American Kelso is also going to appear.
five
As mentioned in the previous chapter, Mr. T embezzled $2.5 million from Casio's funds, which was not discussed with Hasegawa, who, although he did not know much about finance, found that the balance on Casio's account was wrong.
After Hasegawa discovered Mr. T's cattiness, he used various means, including the underworld, to make Mr. T spit out the money and return it to Casio's account as soon as possible.
But Mr. T is a big-spender, often throws luxury yacht parties on the Hudson River and loves to buy all kinds of brand names, so the money is quickly spent.
To return $2.5 million, Mr. T is completely incapable of doing so. But in the face of Hasegawa's threat, Mr. T was also afraid, and he first thought of the German Oggen Kaiser, who wanted to take 2.5 million out of 25 million.
Curiously, the money had been transferred by Oghan Kaiser from Alpha Credit Bank to Northern Trust Bank in Chicago, and Northern Trust Bank told Mr. T that the $25 million had been frozen due to problems with the banking system and could only be used to invest in the Canary Islands project, not as a diversion.
Mr. T had no choice but to ask for help, but to no avail.
At this point, Oggen Kaiser recommended to Mr. T a man of great powers, the American Kelso.
Kelso's experience is very mysterious, and it is said that he once worked for the CIA, but because of the violation of the regulations, he was not only expelled from the CIA, but also spent several years in prison.
After his release from prison, Kelso transformed from a secret agent to a financial person, and appeared frequently on a series of major projects such as the MGM merger, the Russian gold nugget, and the Issuance of Promissory Notes by the Zaire government.
Because his registered company trademark and seal have a Masonic-like motif on it, and it is rumored that he is a mysterious Masonic member.
Masonic Logo - Source Network
In a word, Kelso is a mysterious, energetic, hand-eyed man.
Under Kelso's lead, a Japanese investor was willing to lend Mr. T $2.5 million, but only for a week, and Mr. T would have to pay $1 million in interest after a week.
Desperate, Mr. T had to accept this "help".
But all this was behind Kelso's command, and both Ogan Kaiser and the "well-meaning Japanese investors" were the people Kelso had recruited.
Remember the $25 million that was frozen at The Northern Credit Bank in Chicago, which was quietly transferred to Kelso's account at the Bnane Branch of the Midland Bank jersey city branch in two installments, adding that crane was owned by Kelso.
Unbeknownst to Mr. T, when $25 million arrived in Augenkaiser's account, it was in Kelso's pocket.
After many transfers and transfers of funds, it is said that more than 30 financial institutions passed by, and Kelso laundered the money so that there was no trace of Casio at all.
In the end, Kelso received $13.5 million, Okan Kaiser $8 million, Hasegawa $1.5 million, and the remaining $2 million was divided between "well-meaning Japanese investors" and Shigeo Hashimoto.
Casio's $30 million was washed away.
land
In the face of the disappearing $30 million, Zuo Shixiu could not account to the company, and he had to find a way to balance the deficit on the book.
So he joined forces with Hasegawa and forged an agreement to entrust Hasegawa and Shigeo Hashimoto with full authority, but the names of the two became Mutsuyuki Hasegawa and Shigeo Hashimoto.
By mid-year settlement, they posed as Citibank employees to sign off on a false certificate of $30 million in Barclays bank accounts.
After this series of forgeries, the company's internal final accounts were temporarily dealt with.
In order to fill the 30 million holes, Zuo Shixiu set aside $64 million and remitted it to the Casio account of Citibank in New York in March 1998.
But on May 12, Casio's chairman Suzuki read about Casio's investment in the Canary Islands in the British magazine Observer, but Suzuki was well aware that Casio had not made this investment.
Now all the truths began to slowly surface.
This eventually led to the $100 million cross-border money laundering case.
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