The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Drug and Firearms Countermeasures Division has accused Stefan Kaufmann (56), former president of Olympus, of extorting cash from defendant Stefan Kaufmann (age 56), who was charged with violating the special drug law. Takaaki Kaneko (44), who was charged with the same crime, was re-arrested. He is said to have remained silent in response to the investigation.

The suspect was rearrested between February and September of this year, when the former company president, who had been giving away illegal drugs for a fee or free of charge, tried to end the relationship by threatening to “disclose it to the company, the media, and the police” as hush money. Demanding 25 million yen. It is alleged that on June 3, he extorted 500,000 yen in cash in Tokyo.

According to the Drugs and Guns Division, Kaneko is believed to have extorted a total of approximately 9.15 million yen from the former company president on 23 occasions between February and June.