Japanese embezzlement case leads to LV arrest

Jace Radke

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 | 8:58 a.m.

A Japanese citizen arrested in Las Vegas by FBI agents Friday is accused of embezzling $5.2 million from the U.S. affiliate of a Japanese iron oxide maker, company officials said.

Hisashi Shimizu, former president of Chicago-based Toda America Inc., an affiliate of Toda Kogyo Corp., was arrested at a Las Vegas hotel, FBI officials said.

Toda Kogyo executive Hiroyuki Kondo said at a news conference in Hiroshima that Shimizu, a 47-year-old Japanese national, was accused of withdrawing money from the company's accounts in early April.

FBI agents arrested Shimizu on a complaint out of Chicago, after agents there tipped off authorities in Las Vegas that Shimizu was in town. Shimizu reportedly often frequented Las Vegas to gamble, and was known to gamble at the Rio and Caesars Palace, authorities said.

Shimizu, who is being held at the city jail at Stewart Avenue and Mojave Road while awaiting court hearings, had headed Toda Kogyo's U.S. affiliate since 1997, Kondo said.

For the year ended in March, Toda Kogyo, Japan's largest maker of magnetic iron oxide, reported a net loss of $5.11 million due largely to the missing money, the company said. Toda America has four employees.