Two former singers of the Japanese leisure company beforehand referred to as Johnny & Associates Inc have filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court docket towards the agency and its executives, in search of over $300 million in damages for alleged sexual abuse throughout their youth, a supply near the matter mentioned Thursday.
The lawsuit filed in Clark County, Nevada, is believed to be the primary by victims in search of compensation because the firm publicly acknowledged in September final yr that its founder, Johnny Kitagawa, who died in 2019, had sexually abused its performers.
The plaintiffs are Junya Tanaka, 43, and Kyohei Iida, 37, based on the swimsuit. Tanaka alleges that Kitagawa sexually abused him at a Las Vegas resort in March 1997 when he was 15 years previous, whereas Iida claims he skilled related abuse in August 2002 when he was 14.
Both plaintiffs allege that they had been subjected to common abuse throughout their time with the corporate, spanning from 1997 to 1998 for Tanaka and 2002 to 2006 for Iida.
They are every in search of $50 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages.
The swimsuit additionally holds Kitagawa’s niece, Julie Keiko Fujishima, and different former executives accountable for failing to take applicable motion regardless of being conscious of the abuse.
Fujishima is presently a director of Smile-Up Inc, the successor firm to Johnny & Associates, devoted to offering redress to sexual abuse victims.
Speaking via their legal professionals, Tanaka expressed a want for “people around the world to know that for decades in Japan, speaking out about this kind of abuse was suppressed,” whereas Iida pressured that “to ensure such incidents are never repeated, a fundamental shift in societal awareness is crucial.”
© KYODO