Ex-Aoki Head Sentenced 2½ Year Prison Term for Tokyo Games Bribery

The Yomiuri Shimbun

10:38 JST, April 21, 2023

The Tokyo District Court sentenced the former chairman of business apparel chain giant Aoki Holdings Inc. on Friday to a 2½-year prison term with suspended for four years in a bribery case connected to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

This is the first verdict handed down in a series of Tokyo Games corruption cases.

Hironori Aoki, 84, was indicted for a asking former Tokyo Games organizing committee executive to give the company preferential treatment in the awarding of Tokyo Games sponsorship contracts and contracts to sell licensed goods. The bribes paid amounted to ¥28 million between September 2019 and March 2022.