Famed J-pop music producer Komuro indicted over copyright fraud+

OSAKA, Nov. 21 Kyodo - Prosecutors charged once high-flying pop music producer Tetsuya Komuro with fraud on Friday for concluding a contract to sell music copyrights that did not belong to him and swindling an investor out of 500 million yen, the prosecutors said.

Following the indictment by the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office, the
Osaka District Court released Komuro, 49, on 30 million yen bail.
Komuro has admitted to the charges, telling investigators that he was
desperately in need of money to pay back loans, investigative sources said.
He was also quoted as saying, ''I thank the victim for giving me the
opportunity to look back on my life,'' and, ''I became 'the emperor with no
clothes' while I earned a lot of money and led a lavish life.''
The prosecutors also indicted Takashi Kimura, 56, a senior official of a
Tokyo-based entertainment agency in which Komuro is involved as a board member,
over the fraud case.
They arrested another senior official, 45, together with Komuro and Kimura, on
Nov. 4, but decided not to indict him as he did not gain profits in the case.
Investigations showed that Komuro allegedly concluded the contract in August
2006 with an investor from Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, to sell 806 tunes for 1
billion yen.
Komuro accepted an advance payment of 500 million yen from the investor despite
being aware that the tunes, most of which he had written, no longer belonged to
him.
Of the 500 million yen, Komuro used about 340 million yen to pay off debts. He
paid the remainder to a business executive who had assumed repayment of
Komuro's debt, the sources said.
Komuro has written scores of hits for such popular singers as Namie Amuro since
the 1990s but is said to have struggled with accumulated debts of more than 1
billion yen because of failed businesses and compensation to his former wife,
music industry sources said.