The Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced the leader of a sex-worker scouting group to four years and six months in prison for violating the employment security law.
Kazuma Endo, the 34-year-old head of the group called “Access,” was also ordered to pay a fine of ¥4 million and forfeit about ¥81.3 million.
According to the ruling, Endo and others conspired to introduce 10 women to sex-related businesses between 2023 and 2024 and concealed some ¥80 million in cash received as rewards.
In handing down the ruling, Presiding Judge Makoto Terao said that the crime was “highly malicious as it encouraged work harmful to public morals while disregarding the dignity of many women.”
The judge concluded that Endo played a leading role, including managing the organization’s finances, and bore the greatest criminal responsibility, making an unsuspended prison sentence inevitable.
The defense denied some of the allegations, claiming that Endo did not intend to hide criminal proceeds. However, the court rejected this claim.
