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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityAsiaChinaIndiaTwo more abusers at J-pop predator’s companyPublished12 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingBy Mobeen AzharBBC NewsThe man in charge of compensating sexual abuse victims of Japan’s most famous pop manager says the scandal goes further than first thought.Noriyuki Higashiyama told the BBC he believes there were two more perpetrators at Johnny Kitagawa’s agency Johnny & Associates.He believes these individuals are still alive.Since a 2023 BBC investigation, nearly 1,000 men have come forward to say they were abused by Kitagawa.Higashiyama told the BBC that an internal investigation by the former company in August 2023 had concluded that two people at Johnny & Associates were believed to have sexually abused talent. He revealed that, to date, he has not contacted the authorities. “From a legal standpoint, I don’t think we have the authority to do that,” Higashiyama says. “But if those involved file a criminal complaint, I imagine we would co-operate as much as possible.”He says that he does not know if the survivors of abuse by the two perpetrators want to pursue criminal proceedings. “I don’t even know who they are,” he says.Image caption, BBC reporter Mobeen Azhar spoke to Smile-Up CEO Noriyuki HigashiyamaJohnny Kitagawa, creator of the Japanese boy band phenomenon, died in 2019. At the time, he was celebrated for his contribution to the country’s pop culture.In the wake of the BBC documentary, an independent inquiry concluded that the music mogul had abused hundreds of boys and young men over a six-decade career.Johnny & Associates was dissolved and replaced by a new talent agency called Starto Entertainment and Smile-Up, a company tasked with processing claims of abuse. Smile-Up appointed three former judges to a victim relief committee to manage the compensation process.Higashiyama, a former actor and Johnny & Associates talent, took on the job as Smile-Up’s CEO. He has himself faced allegations of bullying and sexual abuse, which he denies.Survivors of Kitagawa’s abuse have criticised Smile-Up for having an opaque compensation process and for not acting quickly enough to engage with them. They say it seems to be an ad-hoc system with no defined timeline.Akimasa Nihongi is a former Johnny & Associates talent and joined the agency as a 13-year-old with aspirations of becoming a pop star.He went public with his own experience of abuse when he saw the story reported in 2023. “I feel like there are still issues that are hidden,” he says.Image caption, There is little semblance of justice for victims like Akimasa NihongiFor Akimasa and many more like him, there is little semblance of justice. A lawyer representing survivors of Kitagawa’s abuse described Smile-Up’s process as “a black-box situation”.Smile-Up has itself cast doubt on some of the allegations. Days after being set up, the agency released a statement saying: “We have received information that there are cases in which people, who are most likely not victims, are telling false stories using the testimony of real victims.”Some of the survivors who shared their experiences have faced condemnation and harassment from people online.A woman who did not want to be identified says her husband faced death threats and harassment when he shared his story of being abused by Kitagawa. “He wanted to reveal everything,” she says. “He didn’t want future children to be harmed in the same way.” After he spoke out, his personal details were exposed online.Eventually the woman received a text message from her husband telling her that he’d gone to the mountains. It was there that he ended his life. “When I found him, it was too late,” she says.Smile-Up CEO Noriyuki Higashiyama says that he is aware of this case. “People have freedom of speech,” he says. “I’m not encouraging slander. If it’s possible, I would really like to eliminate online abuse.”Our World: The Shadow of a PredatorAfter the BBC revealed that Johnny Kitagawa, the godfather of J-pop, spent a lifetime sexually abusing young boys in his talent agency, Mobeen Azhar investigates the aftermath of a predator.Watch on BBC News at 03:30 on Saturday March 30 or afterwards on BBC iPlayer (UK Only) Higashiyama says he has spoken personally to almost 200 people who have come forward with claims of abuse. “I hope it will help to mend their hearts, even just a little. I consider that to be my role. My main focus is to meet with survivors.”He admits that he has no formal training or experience in counselling or helping survivors of sexual abuse.Smile-Up is organising and funding counselling for those who have come forward. “We are thinking of doing that indefinitely,” Higashiyama says.Subsequent to revelations in the BBC investigation, Kitagawa’s place in Japanese pop culture has shifted in the public consciousness.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has faced increasing pressure to reform sexual abuse legislation.The age of consent in Japan shifted from 13 to 16, after multiple rape acquittals in 2019 caused a national outcry. And public discussion following last year’s investigation into Kitawaga has resulted in more men speaking publicly about the abuse they experienced. However, some survivors of abuse feel that despite their testimonies, justice continues to be elusive.Akimasa believes it is important that survivors are supported in reaching closure. In his view, this is something the new incarnation of Johnny & Associates has so far failed to deliver.”I want them to take responsibility. I think this is the biggest post-war sexual assault case in Japan. We shouldn’t let it fade away as if it’s a temporary problem. It’s important to keep a record as part of Japanese history.” If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line.Related TopicsSexual violenceChild abuseJapanPop musicMore on this storyJapan’s J-pop predator – exposed for abuse but still reveredPublished6 March 2023The dark side of Asia’s pop music industryPublished26 January 2016Top StoriesGaza starvation could amount to war crime, UN human rights chief tells BBCPublished4 hours agoKing tells of ‘great sadness’ at missing Maundy servicePublished2 minutes agoDivers recover bodies from Baltimore bridgePublished1 hour agoFeaturesHow do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?I’m not ashamed of who I am any more, says LionessCars, coal and gas… key cargo at Baltimore portFather of two among Baltimore bridge victimsThe Papers: Sewage ‘outrage’ and ‘King calls for kindness’ What are assisted dying, assisted suicide and euthanasia?‘We crowdfunded to help pay our son’s care costs’Tackling deepfakes ‘has turned into an arms race’Bill Nighy on playing an England manager with a differenceElsewhere on the BBCDid The Terminator predict the future correctly?!Beth Singler explores the creation and enduring influence of the film, 40 years after its releaseAttributionSoundsBlowing the lid on a baffling online scamPolly Weston’s determined to get to the bottom of the con involving a £138 dehumidifierAttributionSoundsCan you sort these monarchs into the correct order?Test your memory and reorder ten royal faces, from the earliest to the most recentAttributionBitesizeThe dressing room killing that shook wrestling’Villain of the ring’ Bruiser Brody’s extraordinary life, legacy and deathAttributionSoundsMost Read1Gogglebox star, 40, dies after fall from height2I’m not ashamed of who I am any more, says Lioness3Stone of Destiny takes centre stage at new museum4Harvard removes human skin binding from book5Divers recover bodies from Baltimore bridge6Gaza starvation could amount to war crime, UN human rights chief tells BBC7Thames Water races to find cash as problems worsen8Manhunt after stabbing in front of train passengers9Queen at Maundy service while King sends message10Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
[ad_1] The two individuals involved in sex abuse at Johnny Kitagawa’s agency are still alive, BBC is told.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaDonald Trump hit where it hurts most in New York fraud rulingPublished33 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Donald Trump built a real estate empire in Manhattan in the 1980sBy Nada TawfikBBC News, New YorkDonald Trump’s latest legal loss hits him where it hurts most because it takes aim at his very identity. For decades, he has marketed himself as a genius business mogul who made it big in one of the world’s most cutthroat cities, in large part because of relentless self-promotion.That image – forever tied to New York deal-making – catapulted him to international fame, allowing him to reinvent himself first as a reality TV star and then ultimately the president of the United States.But Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling in a civil fraud case related to the inflation of property values and lying on financial statements to obtain better loan terms undermines Mr Trump’s entire narrative. It instead paints him as a fraud and inflicts a massive blow to his business empire and wealth.Donald Trump once remarked that the mind can overcome any obstacle. But what an obstacle this is.The verdict significantly curtails the Trump Organization’s ability to do business in New York. He has personally been banned from holding any directorships for three years and his company cannot secure loans with financial institutions registered with the city during that time either.He has been hit with an enormous financial penalty of $355m – which jumps to more than $450m once interest is included – and that far exceeds how much cash he has to hand. His business will continue to be be watched by an independent monitor, with a separate independent director of compliance also signing off on major business decisions.In perhaps the only bright spot for the former president and Republican frontrunner, the Trump empire was spared from the equivalent of the corporate death penalty – the cancellation of its business licences. Key findings in Trump’s ‘overwhelming’ fraud trial lossThe many lives of Trump TowerMr Trump has for decades seemed to rally and recover from scandals and legal challenges that could irreparably damage others, so much so that he has been referred to as Teflon Don, because nothing sticks. The nickname previously belonged to the mob boss John Gotti after he won a series of high-profile acquittals in the 1980s. But today’s verdict signals that Donald Trump’s luck, like Gotti’s, may be running out.Judge Engoron noted Mr Trump and the other defendants’ lack of remorse and history of repeated and persistent fraud. In this case, he said the examples of fraud over more than a decade at the company “leap off the page and shock the conscience”.Yet the defendants were incapable of admitting the error of their ways, he said, writing: “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological.”This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Watch: New York Attorney General Letitia James says ‘no one above law’ after Trump rulingUnsurprisingly, Mr Trump sees things very differently. He says he built a “perfect company” and rejects that he should be punished for fraud because banks were paid back in full. He continues to repeat claims, without evidence, that his legal challenges are just a plot by elite Democrats to keep him out of the White House.According to Mr Trump’s estranged niece Mary Trump, the judge’s ruling amounts to the end of the Trump family legacy. “Today is an emotional day, but one thing is for certain: the Engoron decision is absolutely devastating for Donald,” she wrote on social media.As the son of a real estate developer whose projects included middle-class apartment buildings in the outer boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, Mr Trump always dreamed of making a name for himself among the skyscrapers of Manhattan.A seven-year spree of construction from 1976-1983, including the eponymous Trump Tower, solidified his reputation as a real estate giant in New York. ”Not many sons have been able to escape their fathers,” he told the New York Times in 1983 – the implication being that at 37, he already had.And it’s true that the 1980s era of greed and excess was a prosperous time for the brash young developer.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Donald Trump reinvented himself as a reality TV star in the early 2000s – with New York at the centreTrump Tower, with its prime location on 5th Avenue, put Donald Trump on the map. Once his reputation was established, he subsequently put his name on every project he did. By the early 1990’s though, Donald Trump filed for several corporate bankruptcies and nearly lost it all.It was during this time that Rich Herschlag, the chief engineer in the Manhattan Borough President’s office, worked with Mr Trump and his organization on the Riverside South project, a redevelopment in a former rail yard on the Upper West Side. He says it meant “everything or darn close to everything” for Donald Trump to be seen as a successful real estate developer – and in particular build an empire from his father’s legacy.”To watch it [potentially] gutted and decimated, I can’t image that’s anything less than an emotional horror,” he told the BBC. How can Trump pay massive civil penalty?It is not yet clear how Mr Trump will pay the nearly half a billion dollars that he is liable for and if that will involve selling any assets or businesses to raise the cash. His sprawling real estate empire in New York is valued by Forbes at $490m but there are many other properties around the country, including hotels, golf courses, condominiums and even a winery.Selling any of his prime Manhattan real estate would be a fresh indignity for the former president – and a decision he would not take lightly.But whether or not Donald Trump is able to recover from this financial shock, the outcome has surely dented his fortune, perhaps irreparably.The ruling in the city where he rose to the top – while always remaining something of an outsider – is undoubtedly a big loss. And for more than six decades in New York real estate, there’s no figure Mr Trump has derided more than the “loser”.Related TopicsNew York CityDonald TrumpTop StoriesLive. 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