Susumu Kajiyama | |
|---|---|
梶山 進 | |
| Born | 1950 (age 73–74) |
| Organization | Mio-gumi (former member) |
| Criminal charge | Money laundering |
Susumu Kajiyama (梶山 進, Kajiyama Susumu, born around 1950) is a retired yakuza best known for his arrest in 2003, who was dubbed the "loan shark king". He has been introduced as a senior member of the Shizuoka-based Goryo-kai, a secondary organization of Japan's largest yakuza syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi,[1] although he was technically not a member of the Goryo-kai.[2]
He began his career as a yakuza after graduating from middle school, when he met the head of the Suzuki-gumi, an Inagawa affiliate, in jail. He joined the Suzuki-gumi and founded a yamikin organization in Shinjuku, Tokyo, launching his underground financial business.[3]
He left the Suzuki-gumi in 1997 and along with his elementary school senior Yasuo Takagi, he joined the Shizuoka-based Mio-gumi, a tertiary organization of the Yamaguchi-gumi.[3]
In October 2002, following the retirement of the head of the Mio-gumi, Yasuo Takagi formed the Goryo-kai as the successor to the Mio-gumi. Kajiyama didn't join the Goryo-kai, retiring from the Yakuza world, but kept a strong connection with the Goryo-kai as the CEO of the Goryo-kai's underground finance ring.[3]
He was operating over 1,000 underground loan companies by August 2003, with estimated annual earnings of over $1 billion.[4] In August 2003 he was arrested for violating the investment law by "supervising moneylenders providing loans at unlawfully high interest rates".[2] He was convicted of 14 charges against him by 2005, and was sentenced to seven years in prison in February for money laundering involving the Standard Chartered Bank and Credit Suisse.[5]
In August 2003, Shizuka Kamei, then a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and former Senior Superintendent of the National Police Agency, acknowledged receiving political donations from Kajiyama.[6]