US$100m libel suit filed against Japanese newspaper

TOKYO - Mainichi Newspapers declined to comment on a US$100 million ($147 million) lawsuit against the company, Japan's third largest newspaper publisher, alleging one of its publications defamed Cerberus Capital Management by linking it to organised crime.

Cerberus Capital, a US buyout fund that has invested more than US$8 billion in Japan in the past eight years, says a January 12 front page story in the Mainichi Shimbun "wrongfully and maliciously" accused the firm and related entities of being associated with Japanese mobsters known as Yakuza.

The suit cites a chart and headline for the story that read, "Commission Paid to an Individual Associated with an Organized Crime Group: Subsidiary of a US-based Private Equity Fund Linked to a Land-Sharking Scheme Involving Prime Real Estate."

"In Japan, the term 'land-sharking' is commonly understood to refer to the practice of using strong-arm tactics to coerce owners of small plots of land into selling their property," according to the suit. "'Land-sharking' is an extremely ... defamatory term, and ... is accepted as meaning that individual or entity is tied to the Yakuza or other illegal group."

- BLOOMBERG