First to Seize Takes Everything

The Fraud, Part 15 — The parents had quietly signed for another creditor too. Now it was a race — and whoever moved first would take it all.

When the week began, I dragged my heavy body to his parents’ home.

The Truth About Yadanuma Junzo

What I had to confirm was the “Yadanuma Junzo” listed in their account.

Me: “From your account and your husband’s, there are several transfers to a Yadanuma Junzo. What’s your relationship with him? What are these payments?”

Mother: “What? … Why are you asking?”

Me: “Don’t ‘why are you asking.’ Answer me.”

Mother: “…”

Me: “Why are you going quiet?”

Mother: “He’s a relative…”

Me: “That’s an outright lie. Why, even now, are you still lying to me?”

Mother: “No — it’s not a lie.”

Me: “Listen to me. I know all of it. The son lies and deceives people. The parents lie right alongside him. Is the whole family a pack of liars?”

Mother: “… ugh — um…”

Me: “Yadanuma is doing business with your son, isn’t he? He’s a creditor, isn’t he? Speak plainly!”

Mother: “No, that’s not it…”

Me: “Then why are your son’s account and Yadanuma’s company wiring money back and forth so often? He’s someone your son trades with!”

Mother: “…I’m sorry. On my son’s instructions, we made transfers from our account too.”

Me: “What? What kind of instructions?”

Mother: “That he was temporarily short, and to pay it on his behalf…”

Me: “Is that true?”

Mother: “Yes…”

Me: “Don’t tell me you’ve become guarantors for Yadanuma’s company.”

Mother: “… Mm…”

Me: “Be clear. Which is it?”

Mother: “We did, recently…”

Me: “What?! You said you’d become no one’s guarantor — you promised. You lied again?”

Mother: “I couldn’t refuse…”

Me: “And why say nothing about it? Did he come to this house recently?”

Mother: “Yes, he did.”

Me: “You could have contacted me then.”

Mother: “I couldn’t think straight.”

Me: “Don’t lie to me. And your son?”

Mother: “I can’t reach him…”

Me: “What on earth are you all doing?”

And so it came out: a few nights after my visit, Yadanuma had come — with a lawyer — to demand that the mother and father guarantee his debt. And without a word to me, the swindler’s mother was making repayments to him.

It made me furious.

Sixteen to One — But…

According to the mother, the swindler owed Yadanuma roughly a million dollars.

Whether Yadanuma learned that my company had taken a guarantee from the parents and came chasing the same thing, or whether the timing simply happened to coincide, I couldn’t say.

What was certain: I held a claim of over sixteen million against the parents as guarantors; Yadanuma held about a million.

So if the lawsuits and seizures landed at the same time, the assets would be divided in proportion to the claims — and I’d recover well over ninety percent of whatever the parents had.

But if Yadanuma executed enforcement before I seized or enforced, then — since the parents’ assets came to a few hundred thousand dollars at most — the whole of it would go to him, and I’d recover nothing at all.

This was a genuinely dangerous spot.

Move Fast

Yadanuma’s actions made sense, of course.

From where he stood: the swindler owed him a million, wasn’t paying, so he’d found the parents’ home by some means and demanded they guarantee it.

There are other creditors chasing the swindler, too. He has no money and pays no one, so each of them scrambles to locate the parents and press for payment fast.

And if Yadanuma got ahead of me here, that truly would be the end of everything.

Telling the mother never, under any circumstances, to pay Yadanuma again wouldn’t actually stop her.

Today’s visit had given me a near-complete picture of their assets. A lawyer’s formal inquiry should pin down the exact figures — so, above all, move fast.

On my way out I told the mother once more, hard: respond to no one, Yadanuma included. It would have little effect.

Yadanuma, and the more than a hundred other victims said to be scattered across the country, were every bit as desperate as I was.

Whatever else — I left the parents’ house and called my lawyer.

[embed]Never Leave It to Your Lawyer The Fraud, Part 16 — The fight was moving into a courtroom. And two of the choices I made there ran against everything…medium.com