Livedoor - Why Do They Have Money?

[canman]

Hell if Horie doesn't have any money left he can make a fortune writing a diet book. I'm sure that many people would follow the prison diet regime. It worked for him didn't it.

[emperor]

yeah he lost a bit under the chin, and grew his hair out - no good barbers in Japanese prison?
maybe he traded all his deserts for smokes to pay people not to assrape him?

[emperor]

oops dp

[Greji]

yeah he lost a bit under the chin, and grew his hair out - no good barbers in Japanese prison?

That was one of my last nights in the joint, I mean the hospital. We were out on the patio having a smoke and all hell broke loose. You would have thought it was a evening assault in the DMZ. They had at least four helicopters up at roof top level over and around Roppongi Hills for about 45 minutes to an hour.

We couldn't figure out what the hell had happened because Tokyo is really nosiy about night flights and these babies were at window level. One of the guys had TV on his keitai and checked it out. We thought it must have been a major crime or fire. Turns out it was just Horiemon coming home!

[Mulboyne]

Name change:

[Mulboyne]

Mainichi: Miyauchi says he believes Horie didn't know about scheme

A major witness in the trial of a disgraced Japanese Internet maverick contradicted his earlier statements, testifying Wednesday that he believes the entrepreneur didn't know about the dubious dealings he is charged with. Ryoji Miyauchi, former chief financial officer of Internet startup Livedoor Co., made the comments in one of the biggest trials Japan has had in years. A hush fell over the Tokyo District Court when Miyauchi, in response to questioning by prosecutors, said the defendant, Takafumi Horie, told him he didn't know about a scheme that used fabricated sales to inflate earnings to gain illicit cash from stock swaps. "He really didn't know. He thought he really didn't know," Miyauchi said of Horie...Miyauchi has been the key witness linking Horie, the founder of Livedoor, to the dealings, which prosecutors say used dummy companies and doctored earnings reports.

[GuyJean]

Defense for Japanese Internet Maverick Demands Court Drop Charges
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Technology/Defense-for-Japanese-Internet-maverick-demands-court-drop-charges/2006/09/26/1159036529225.html

Lawyers for former Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie accused prosecutors of deliberately overlooking former Livedoor Chief Financial Officer Ryoji Miyauchi's alleged embezzlement of company funds to get him to testify against Horie, attorney Yasuyuki Takai said.

Takai called Miyauchi's testimony "groundless," and said he demanded in Friday's court session that the prosecutor accusation based on his accounts should be dropped.

Miyauchi is the key prosecution witness in the trial, which began in Tokyo District Court on Sept. 4.

....

"Prosecutors had Miyauchi make testimonies that are not true," Takai told the Associated Press. "We demand that the case dropped rather than getting an acquittal."

GJ

[Buraku]

Mother and daughter Livedoor shareholders

Takafumi Horiemon, I wonder what would have happned if he had run as the official LDP candidate back in '05

[Greji]

IIRC, the LiveDoor guy got started by marrying rich and bilking his father-in-law for wads of cash to get the company started... and then when it went big, he ditched her.

Hey, my kinda of guy!

[Captain Japan]

Today is the big day. The hopelessly staged photos are already being prepped.

Verdict due in fraud case of Japanese IT mogul
AFP

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese court on Friday was to deliver a verdict in the fraud trial of disgraced Internet tycoon Takafumi Horie, a case that has gripped the attention of both the public and investors.

The 34-year-old founder of once high-flying Internet venture Livedoor has maintained his innocence throughout the hearings at the Tokyo District Court, claiming prosecutors were building a case against him based on "a mirage".

Prosecutors have accused Horie of falsely reporting a pre-tax profit of some five billion yen (43 million dollars) for the year to September 2004 to hide actual losses of 310 million yen. They have requested a four-year jail term.

Four other executives of the Livedoor firm have admitted to fraud during their own trials, with some testifying that Horie was fully aware of the alleged fraud.

Horie built one of Japan's top Internet empires with an aggressive expansion drive, including high-profile but unsuccessful bids for the nation's most watched TV network and even a professional baseball team.

He also made an unsuccessful bid for a seat in parliament, with the blessing of then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi.

[GuyJean]

I love the fact that Mulboyne put this in FG's Calendar..

GJ

[canman]

Why am I not surprised by this verdict! How will the appeal go? Good luck Horiemon.

[Captain Japan]

Former dot-com star found guilty in high-profile Japan trial
Mainichi

Former dot-com mogul Takafumi Horie was found guilty of securities laws violations and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on Friday, in a case that has come to symbolize the challenges Japan faces in policing rising startups.

Horie is expected to appeal the Tokyo District Court ruling. Horie had pleaded not guilty, saying he had been framed and accused prosecutors of having targeted him for standing out too much with his brash, unconventional entrepreneurship.

Prosecutors had demanded a four-year prison term. In Japan, executives charged of such wrongdoing generally get suspended sentences and avoid time in prison.

[Catoneinutica]

Every other white-collar criminal in Japan, even those whose crimes were likely a good deal more serious than Livedoor's (Tsutsumi, anyone?) gets a "suspended" sentence. Horiemon, by God, get's real jail time!

-catone
-no double standard. Nope. Nothing to see here. Move along.

[Greji]

Every other white-collar criminal in Japan, even those whose crimes were likely a good deal more serious than Livedoor's (Tsutsumi, anyone?) gets a "suspended" sentence. Horiemon, by God, get's real jail time!

GJ, since he's our neighbor, do you think we would be impolite if we took him a tube of Preparation H, or maybe some KY Jelly, as going away presents?

[Mike Oxlong]

I heard J-prisoners spent nearly all their time in a cell (single occupancy), and were not allowed to fraternize with the other inmates. Eat in their cell, get like 30 minutes of "yard time" a day where they're not allowed to speak...

Keep your stash, t'would be wasted on those who won't be gittin' any

[Catoneinutica]

Yeah, that seems to be one of the few redeeming aspects of J-prisons, though I haven't heard of any particularly penetrating first-hand analyses of the subject (yes, that's a joke, kamone): although you may have to spend the day slaving away building tansu chests for low-end retailers, you don't have to watch out for your cornhole as much as you might in the American penal (heh) system.

The reason I think Tsustumi Yoshiaki makes such a great friggin' poster boy for J-white-collar crime is the fact that Seibu's stock "irregularities" took place over a period of...40 years! And Horie is the one who might do hard time?

-catone
-who you callin' GJ, Mistah Boothe?

[Greji]

-who you callin' GJ, Mistah Boothe?

I was just hitch-hiking on your post to pass that message to GJ. He doesn't read to well you know!

[Mulboyne]

Nice picture on Tokyo Mango.

[GuyJean]

I heard J-prisoners spent nearly all their time in a cell (single occupancy), and were not allowed to fraternize with the other inmates. Eat in their cell, get like 30 minutes of "yard time" a day where they're not allowed to speak...

So, it's a typical 1DK apartment.. Plus free meals?.. And no key money?.. Enjoy the vacation, Horie-mon..

GJ

[Mulboyne]

[Captain Japan]

[Mulboyne]

I suppose we should mention that Horie had his appeal rejected and will go to jail.

Takafumi Horie, a popular cyber-guru who once led Internet company Livedoor Co., is set to be imprisoned for accounting fraud after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, judicial sources said Tuesday. The Monday decision to uphold lower court rulings will finalize the 30-month prison term for the 38-year-old. He is likely to serve a maximum of just under 29 months as he has already served 40 days in detention. Horie's not guilty appeal only "concerns a mistake in the admission of facts and unfair sentencing. It therefore does not qualify as a reason for making an appeal to the Supreme Court under the criminal procedure law," said Mutsuo Tahara, presiding justice of the top court's Petty Bench.

Horie and other Livedoor executives fabricated 5.3 billion yen in revenues in the reporting of Livedoor's group earnings for the business year through September 2004, according to lower court rulings. They also announced a false earnings report of a group company between October and November of that year by overvaluing a publishing firm that the company was to buy, the rulings said. Horie maintained throughout the trials that he was not guilty. But a Tokyo District Court ruling in March 2007 described him as a person with tremendous authority over the Livedoor group, determining he had instructed the reporting of about 1.58 billion yen in fictitious profit.

A July 2008 ruling by the Tokyo High Court dismissed his appeal, prompting him to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

IT journalist Daisuke Tsuda, who has over 170,000 followers on Twitter, has criticized the decision. He notes that similar, or worse, offences committed both before and after the Livedoor case saw no jail sentences handed down.

[legion]

IT journalist Daisuke Tsuda, who has over 170,000 followers on Twitter, has criticized the decision. He notes that similar, or worse, offences committed both before and after the Livedoor case saw no jail sentences handed down.

Doesn't make Horie any less guilty.

He was trying to leverage false accounting to buy a controlling interest in a legitimate business, if he had succeeded he would have cost investors their money and employees their jobs. In order to build a business you need a valid business model, he didn't have one, sooner or later he was going to crash and burn, it was just a matter of how many people he dragged into debt with him.

Facebook is another huge con, GS was trying to get people to invest a million dollars a head in it without giving them a real look at the books. Obviously the company is worth diddley squat, it's imagined value to advertisers and data miners is speculation resting on the assumption it won't go the same way as every other internet fad.

[Mulboyne]

Doesn't make Horie any less guilty.

No-one is saying it does. It does show Japanese justice to be conspicuously arbitrary when it comes to white collar crime. If Horie warrants a jail sentence for false accounting then it ought to be clear why executives of Kanebo, Nikko Cordial, Long Term Credit Bank, Sekisui Chemical and Yamaichi, to name some high-profile examples, faced no jail time.

[Mike Oxlong]

[Greji]

[SIZE="5"]A resigned Horiemon prepares for life in prison[/SIZE]

More on what he can expect in prison at Japan Today

They mentioned no wanking rules, but there's no mention of how often he will be called upon to give up some brown eye....

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

They mentioned no wanking rules, but there's no mention of how often he will be called upon to give up some brown eye....

If he's unlucky (which he already has been in a sense), he may find himself turned into Ho-rear...and his behind may be about to find out why it's called the "slammer."

[Coligny]

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Sounds like a great way to combat alcoholism, too....