General News

2 Ex-Johnny’s Members Sue Agency in U.S.; They Request $300 Million in Damages

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The office of Smile-Up. Inc., formerly Johnny & Associates, in Tokyo

By Kayo Goto / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

13:02 JST, December 20, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Two former members of the Japanese talent agency previously known as Johnny & Associates Inc. have filed a lawsuit in Clark County, Nev., against the agency, which has been renamed Smile-Up Inc., and its former president Julie Keiko Fujishima, alleging sexual assault by Johnny Kitagawa, the late founder of the agency.

They are asking for damages of more than $300 million (about ¥47 billion).

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday. According to the lawsuit, one of the plaintiffs, now 43 years old, accompanied Johnny Kitagawa on a trip to Las Vegas in March 1997 at the age of 15, during which Kitagawa sexually assaulted him at a hotel. The other plaintiff, now 37, alleges that the same thing happened to him in August 2002, when he was 14 years old.

In response to the lawsuit, Smile-Up released a statement on Thursday saying, “We will consult with U.S. lawyers and decide how to proceed.”