Japanese gaming mogul Kazuo Okada has been ordered to pay his former company, Universal Entertainment Corp, damages to the tune of JPY 21.3 million (US$193,000) by the Tokyo District Court.
The ruling, which will also see Okada pay interest of 5% per annum backdated to 29 December 2017 plus all litigation costs, comes more than two years after Universal first filed the suit in response to an internal investigation that found Okada had committed three cases of fraudulent acts against the company.
Universal stated at the time it was seeking compensation from Okada “for a part of the damage suffered by the company due to his negligence of duty as a board member of the company in connection with the three misconducts by Mr Okada.”
The three alleged acts in question include a HK$135 million loan from Universal subsidiary Tiger Resort Asia Limited (TRA) to a third party in 2015, arranged by Okada, to obtain funds for his personal use and without imposing any interest charges; the unauthorized procurement of a check for HK$16 million from TRA; and changing the business entity that was purchasing land for an integrated resort in Korea from TRA subsidiary UE Korea to his own wholly-owned company, Okada Holdings Korea Co Ltd, for his personal gain. Okada Holdings subsequently borrowed US$80 million for purchase of the land using UE Korea’s money as collateral, then charged UE Korea a US$173,562 management consultancy fee which was equivalent to the interest fee for the loan.
TRA is the majority shareholder in Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment Inc, which operates Okada Manila – the Philippines integrated resort that still bears its founders name.
Releasing details of the Tokyo District Court’s ruling this week, Universal said, “The Judgment acknowledges that the Fraudulent Acts were conducted under the order of Mr Okada, as well as that Mr Okada breached both his duty of care of a good manager and his fiduciary duty of loyalty as a Director of the Company.”
Okada was removed as Universal Chairman and kicked off the board following a June 2017 shareholder vote in which his estranged wife Takako Okada and son Tomohiro Okada moved against him.
