Ex-Livedoor CFO Gets 20 Months

Mar 22, 09:16 PM

Current Headlines: The former chief financial officer of Japanese Internet services firm Livedoor Co. was sentenced to 20 months in jail Thursday for inflating earnings reports.

Tokyo District Judge Toshiyuki Kosaka said Ryoji Miyauchi, 39, bore primary responsibility for a series of corporate crimes, including stock market manipulation, that breached Japan's Securities and Exchange Law.

Miyauchi expressed remorse to the judge and said later he would appeal the ruling, the Kyodo news service reported.

He is free on $678,000 bail.

The court also found three other former Livedoor executives guilty and gave them suspended prison terms. Japanese executives accused of white-collar crimes often plead guilty, apologize and avoid prison.

The court ruling came nearly a week after it sentenced Livedoor founder and former Chief Executive Takafumi Horie, 34, to 2 1/2 years in prison for violating securities laws.

Horia, who pleaded not guilty, is free on bail while his lawyers prepare his appeal.