Foot cult guru slapped with 12-year prison term for fraud

Hogen Fukunaga, founder of the bankrupt Ho-ho-hana Sanpogyo cult, was ordered Friday to spend 12 years behind bars for swindling 31 people out of nearly 150 million yen under the pretext of religious training fees.

The Tokyo District Court convicted Fukunaga, 60, whose real name is Teruyoshi Fukunaga, of fraud. Prosecutors had demanded that he be jailed for 13 years.

The court also handed a four-year prison term to Akemi Maezawa, 41, a former senior member of the cult for conspiring with Fukunaga in the crime.

Between 1994 and 1997, Fukunaga and senior cult members arrested on suspicion of fraud. The cult was declared bankrupt in March 2001.

Bookmark, Share, or Email This Page

Read Another Article

Teen ‘bomb maker’ remanded in custody
CBI team probing scribe’s murder blamed on religious cult