(Corrected) 4 Ex-Livedoor Executives Found Guilty

Mar 22, 06:29 PM

Current Headlines: (The second paragraph should have read, " Miyauchi, who was the company's No. 2 executive..." instead of as sent.)4 Ex-Livedoor Executives Found Guilty

Tokyo, March 22 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo District Court Thursday sentenced Ryoji Miyauchi, a former executive of Japanese Internet company Livedoor Co., to 20 months in prison for violating securities law.

Miyauchi, who was the company's No. 2 executive following founder Takafumi Horie, had pleaded guilty of manipulating the company's earnings.

Presiding judge Toshiyuki Kosaka accused Miyauchi, who was responsible for Livedoor's finance, of masterminding most of schemes that illegally inflated profits.

Miyauchi appealed the ruling.

The court also found three other former Livedoor executives guilty of manipulating earnings, but gave them suspended sentences.

Fumito Kumagai received a prison term of one year with three- year suspension. Osanari Nakamura and Fumito Okamoto were each given 18 months with three-year suspension.

The rulings came a week after the court sentenced Horie, former Livedoor chief executive, to 30 months in prison for securities law violations.END

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