DOJ Returns $40 Million to Japanese Investors from $1 Billion Filipino Shrimp Farming Ponzi Scheme
In a press release by the Department of Justice today, the Department announced that, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of Japan, it has recovered more than $40.2 million in proceeds from an alleged $1 billion Ponzi scheme by a Japanese citizen, Isamu Kuroiwa, involving investments in Filipino shrimp farms.
Kuroiwa operated "World Ocean Farm" from February 2005 to May 2007. Authorities allege that World Ocean Farm was a Ponzi style investment scheme which claimed to operate shrimp farms in the Philippines, and promised investors a 100 percent annual return on their money. According to the government, World Ocean Farm did own a couple of ponds in the Philippines, which contained no shrimp and were used to dupe traveling Japanese investors.
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Instead, investors were treated to shrimp from local markets. Kuroiwa and his accomplices also allegedly told investors that World Ocean Farms was invested in high-yield investments in the U.S.
The scheme affected over 30,000 Japanese investors and defrauded them of approximately $1 billion (or ¥91 billion). Kuroiwa and his co-conspirators allegedly laundered investment monies through Japanese and American financial institutions. They used the proceeds to pay earlier investors and for their own personal uses, including a lavish gambling trip to Las Vegas. Kuroiwa was arrested, along with his accomplices.
The $40 million was returned to Japanese investors pursuant to an order of forfeiture by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
