Crime & Courts

Former idol group member to be arrested for extorting ¥10,000 from woman

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Koki Tanaka is escorted to a prosecutors office, in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in July.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:27 JST, November 29, 2022

KYOTO — Police are planning to arrest Koki Tanaka, a former member of idol group KAT-TUN who is currently on trial over illegal drugs, on suspicion of extorting about ¥10,000 from a woman he was dating, according to investigative sources.

The Kyoto Prefectural Police have already been provided with an arrest warrant for Tanaka, 37, and are expected to make the arrest after he is transferred to Kyoto from a hospital in Chiba Prefecture, where he is hospitalized.

　According to the sources, Tanaka allegedly extorted the woman in her 30s, residing in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, into paying him about ¥10,000 in June of last year because he had not been paid for an appearance at a live music club that she had introduced him to.

“You have to pay me instead,” Tanaka was quoted as saying to the woman.

　Tanaka has been indicted for the possession and use of illegal drugs, and is currently on trial at the Chiba District Court.