« Yahoo Sports should give credit to MMA Payout on the UFC/360 deals story | Home | CSAC suspends license of Antonio Margarito »
A mysterious Japanese scandal that could even top what happened to PRIDE
By Zach Arnold | January 27, 2009
Gryphon brings to your attention a story about a Japanese organization called GWG (Goodwill Group) that is reportedly embroiled in a giant money scandal. I read the Yomiuri Shimbun article in question that Gryphon links to, and it is very detailed. Gryphon points out this story because of possible ties that GWG has to the fight business.
So, let’s start with two English articles on the story that I found. Trading Markets has a translation of the Yomiuri Shimbun article. The article claims that three investors of a group called The Corinthian Fund took 38 billion yen from GWG. Read the full article to understand how these two financial groups supposedly worked with each other in order to ‘defraud’ GWG. United Press International has a general translation of the Yomiuri Shimbun article which you may find easier to understand and follow. The price tag of fraud? $336 million USD.
In the Japanese version of the Yomiuri Shimbun article, it discusses the fact of someone in the fight world being involved in this scandal under the banner of “Corinthian Partners.”
Two paragraphs from the TM article to focus on:
The contract of the fund showed Corinthian Fund comprised Goodwill Group, the representative of a martial arts organization, a former representative of an investment company, and Corinthian Partners, which was the managing firm for the fund, according to the sources.
Originally, the CPA, who heard that Crystal wanted to sell the company, proposed to then Goodwill Group Chairman Masahiro Origuchi through the representative of the martial arts organization and another fund investor that they buy the company.
The obvious question that is being asked in Japan: Who is the fight group that is being implicated by the newspaper in these allegations of fraud?
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Uh……..ZST? DEEP? Shooto? Pancrase? No way is it K-1! (SMELL the sarcasm!)
UFC Japan. This is right up the Fertitta’s alley
hi, can someone please tell me what happened to the pride-organization ( in a simple english, please )? i never quite get that point. thanks from berlin
PRIDE fall down go boom
Gryphon mentions martial arts organisation NOT martial arts event. This would likely point to one of the big martial arts groups in Japan, with most likely being Matsui’s Kyokushin Kaikan, which is well known to be involved in some dubious business dealings.
kutti,
Pride got caught in bed with organized crime and lost their TV contract as a result. The loss of TV revenue & exposure put them out of business.
Maybe it’s a judo or sumo organization? Smaller kickboxing org? Kendo org? Or as Paul said, maybe a Kyokushi Kai Karate org? I must know more details!
Hehe… “caught in bed” is simple English?
PRIDE was named in a big public scandal involving the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia). The media turned against them. Like Steve said, they lost their TV contract as a result.
http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/01/28/hdnet-fights-signs-up-with-ring-of-honor-wrestling/
HDNet getting in bed with Ring of Honor under the “HDNet Fights” brand name.
The story does not concern MMA industry.
True, but neither do these boxing stories 🙂
Here is the fraud map.
http://antikimchi.up.seesaa.net/image/corinthian.gif
Can’t you read Japanese?
Ganbare.