Feds target Japanese crime network with financial sanctions

The Treasury Department targeted three members of a Japanese organized crime network for their connections to United States-based money-laundering and illegal drug sales, it announced Friday.

The three men and the two Yakuza crime affiliates are blocked from accessing any of their U.S.-based assets, and Americans and American firms are banned from financial transactions with the targeted individuals and entities.

Treasury targeted Yakuza affiliate Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, three of its key executive members — Kunio Inoue, Osamu Teraoka and Takashi Ikeda — and its core clan, the Yamaken-gumi, which split off from a larger Yakuza entity.

{mosads}Inoue is the leader of Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi and the Yamaken-gumi clan. Teraoka is a high-ranking Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi leader and manages the clan’s business operations. Ikeda is another top clan official, called the gang’s “money man” for the substantial amount of funds he controls.

“Today’s designation is part of the Treasury Department’s collective efforts to target the Yakuza,” said John Smith, acting director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. “This action reflects Treasury’s ongoing commitment to protect the U.S. and international financial systems from the malign influence of TCOs and to expose persons who are supporting them or acting on their behalf.”