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© AFP/Japan TodaySuspect says he killed financier, wife over investment deal loss
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© AFP/Japan Today
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mikihouse
loss hundreds of millions? he can't even afford to buy a car.
semperfi
Shimomi and his wife were running a ponzi scheme . . . and they thought living in Switzerland - while sucking money out of gullible Japanese - would protect them
2020hindsights
Really? I didn't see that reported.
tokyo-star
Well, Watanabe went to some bizarre lengths to try and cover up this whole thing - having friends buy cars and a vacant lot to bury bodies? Why not just dump them in the bush somewhere in the mountains (not that I am suggesting anyone do this). Seems like an awful lot of work, and too easy to get caught leaving such a clear paper trail.
Maybe the guy wasn't as clever as he thought he was...
Mocheake
Ah, the love of money. Can't say I'm immune to its temptations but I can't see murdering someone over ANY amount. Note to the killers: all investments carry the inherent risk of you losing possibly the whole invested sum. That's something that any adult with a normal brain should know and be prepared to deal with accordingly. Cursing and tantrums are OK, homicide isn't.
rickyvee
how did that guy get to become a company president? i mean that "elaborate" ruse could have been detected by a 10-year-old kid. what a maroon!
Himajin
Nowhere have I seen it reported that this couple were scam artists.
my2sense
This is why the SESC/JFSA needs to get with the program to protect investors. People get crazy nuts when they lose life savings (I know a few) and see it flaunted by these guys in Tokyo and abroad thinking they're in the clear. Japanese are hesitant it lift a finger and keep it inside... A lot of gaijin get robbed too and the SESC throws them the finger.
Nessie
"Head I win, tails you lose" only works if you're Goldman Sachs. It doesn't apply to the great unwashed, not even the tattooed great unwashed.
JeffLee
The couple do seem Madoff-like. Losing tons of their clients' money while leading the lives of billionaires, which may well have been funded by investors' capital.
Not uncommon right now. Asset managers have been able to point to the Bush depression when asked about their heavy losses. But now that the Obama recovery is under way, the investors are starting to wonder why their portfolios haven't also recovered.
tmarie
Things are not right in this case. It sounds like a victims were not exactly living a clean lifestyle.
Ranger_Miffy2
Guess he bought Y3M of shink tickets to sell to his friends? Or, that was the best thing he/they could come with to do with sudden mountains of money? And, well, maybe they are indeed, as @rickyvee said, "maroons". :-)
Wakarimasen
all a bit strange. Could this be a kind of Japanese Ponzi scheme? Bit extreme to kill the crook.
WilliB
Not enough information, but it does sound as if the victim ran a ponzi scheme.
Elbuda Mexicano
Ponzi scheme?? Maybe ?? This Watanabe guy must have been really pissed off to strangle the Shimomis!!
plasticmonkey
You can see a profile of Shimomi's investment fund at Bloomberg. Aggressive, high risk, minimum $250,000 investment. Has lost value in the past year. A risky investment, but nothing to suggest a Ponzi scheme.
Seems Watanabe wanted to play the get-rich-quick game but couldn't deal with the downside.
Ramzel
Quick thought: Shimomi-san was making 500,000,000JPY a year and his fund was losing money. He turns a profit and his investors lose their shirts...
Surely Watanabe-san can't be the only one who was affected.
2020hindsights
Some will be winners; some will be losers. That's the nature of investment. Shimomi-san obviously made money for many of his clients otherwise he wouldn't get 500 million yen/year.
Ramzel
Unless he was scamming them. Investment fund managers play with other people's money and make money on the deal. If the deal/investment goes south afterwards, too bad for the investor. The investment fund already made a commission.
Nessie
A ponzu scheme?
CrazyJoe
Whether they were scam artists or not, no one should end up with a permanent stare in their face.
cramp
well payback is a bitch
avigator
If you lose money, be thankful that it is just that and nothing else. Be thankful for the life or health you have left over. Unless your greed will also turn you into poor health. Toil not for riches, a proverb.
CGB Spender
Be careful who you fraud! You might end up buried in a vacant lot in Kuki, Saitama Prefecture.
Fredrik Jones
No, you shouldn't be thankful to have lost money whilst the swindler is gadding about on a yatch!! Vigilante justice but what's a man to do having lost several million yen!
NeoJamal
Correction: very few winners, many losers
2020hindsights
Based on what?
Unlikely. And nothing in the article suggests that he was.