TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police last month arrested three men, including a male Korean national, for lending cash at extremely high interest rates to women working in adult entertainment establishments in the Kabukicho red-light district.
Han Ka-cheol, 52, and the other two suspects, both Japanese nationals in their 30s, are believed by police to have targeted women who had accumulated debts at host clubs, reports Nippon News Network (Sep. 28).
According to investigators, Han, who uses the surname Nishihara, and his associates are suspected of illegally lending cash to a 24-year-old woman working at a fuzoku adult entertainment establishment at the daily interest rate of 1.07 percent between November 2023 and March 2025.
This interest rate is approximately 20 times the legal interest rate.
Han Ka-cheol (X)
The woman was introduced to Han and his acquaintances’ loan shark business by a colleague. She borrowed 500,000 yen in cash in March 2023. She then repaid at least 4 million yen over the next two years until March 2025. However, she has still not fully repaid the loan.
Police did not reveal whether the suspects admit to violating the Investment Law.
Han and his accomplices are believed to have primarily targeted women who had debts at host clubs and worked in adult entertainment establishments. They are believed to have lent a total of around 8 million yen to several women who contacted the Metropolitan Police Department with similar complaints.
The suspects visited the Kabukicho area approximately once every 10 days in luxury cars, including a black Mercedes Benz and a Toyota Lexus, to lend cash to women who had incurred debts from frequenting host clubs and receive repayments from the vehicles.
The crimes came to light when multiple women contacted police, saying they had borrowed money at high interest rates.
AloJapan.com