Multi-millionaire slumlord Masaaki Imaeda sentenced for secret suburban sex lair where he spied on tenants

Inside this secret shed in the suburban backyard police uncovered a TV, recliner chair, cameras and a labyrinth of cables connected to hidden cameras in the students' bedrooms. Photo / Supplied

Multi-millionaire Sydney slumlord Masaaki Imaeda has been sentenced for setting up an elaborate camera spy network in a suburban home to secretly film his tenants.

Imaeda, 66, who owned a shipping container shanty town in inner Sydney where there was a fire two years ago, rigged up a secret camera network in other properties he owns, and spied on tenants for his sexual pleasure.

Astonished Australian police uncovered the labyrinth network of cables, hidden cameras, and mirrors in one of Imaeda's slum rental properties which connected to a remote secret room where he viewed his tenants' intimate moments.

Police found in this adjoining bedroom a camera hidden inside a TV on top of a wardrobe and a second camera disguised as a smoke detector in the wall. Photo / Supplied

At Campbelltown Local Court on Thursday, Magistrate David Degnan sentenced Imaeda to 18 months in prison, with a non-parole period of 10 months.

Police documents obtained exclusively by news.com.au revealed the discovery of cables snaking through the roof and the floor of a home where the Japanese property mogul secretly filmed couples and young women naked and having sex.

Inside a hidden lair in the backyard of the property, officers found recliner chair set up facing a large television with an Ethernet cable running to it, numerous laptops, SD cards, recording equipment mini cameras and USB drives.

Imaeda, who owns a multi million property empire in Australia, appeared in Campbelltown Court on Thursday, on multiple charges.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of install or use an optical device without consent, adapted to the fabric of a building, and three charges of observe a person in private without consent to obtain sexual arousal.

Separately, Imaeda is already awaiting sentencing for breaches of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act for building his shantytown in Sydney's inner suburb of Alexandria in 2014. The slum came to light when his tenants, who were mainly Asian students, paid to sleep in shipping containers, derelict caravans, and an old bus (all sharing one portaloo). The residents had to flee, and four people had to be rescued when the complex started burning.

But the case facts obtained by news.com.au reveal that the wealthy slumlord is well known in the Japanese backpacker community for using cameras to spy on tenants for his sexual gratification.

The documents say that Imaeda's secret sex den was uncovered in April this year after a young married couple renting a room in one of his properties found a hidden camera in the ceiling of their room.

The couple had answered one of Imaeda's advertisements on the Japanese website cheers.com.au and agreed to pay $240 a week for the master bedroom in a six bedroom house in an outer Sydney suburb.

Masaaki Imaeda at Campbelltown Court in Sydney. Photo / Supplied

Arriving from overseas, the Japanese woman and her husband deposited two weeks' rent in one of Imaeda's bank accounts.

Five days later, on April 16 the wife was scrolling through the internet when she found a Japanese website with a warning about Imaeda.

The warning stated that Imaeda owned multiple Australian properties which he rented to Japanese students and had been installing hidden cameras in the bedrooms.

When her husband returned home that evening, the young woman asked him to check their room.

In the ceiling, the husband found a small hole near the light fitting and a small camera connected to the ceiling light and attached to a cable through the roof.

The couple called police. At the time, Imaeda, who earns an undisclosed sum from his rentals properties, was back in Japan.

Police examined the secret camera and found it was set up to face wardrobe mirrors which take up one whole wall, from the floor to the ceiling.

They found the view from the camera was of the entire master bedroom.

The officers then searched the adjoining bedroom, which had just been vacated by a young female student and found a camera inside a television on top of the wardrobe.

The camera was facing the bed in which the girl had slept.

Police found numerous other cameras around the property and a dome camera inside the garage and outside the front door.

The tenants told police that Imaeda had a small bedroom separate from the house and next to the garage.

Inside that room, police found a monitor and a hard drive which had numerous attached cables which ran through holes cut into the wall and the floor.

The officers moved under the house where they found cables running through the floor up into the room recently vacated by the young woman.

A further search located another hidden camera disguised as a smoke detector in the wall of this room.

The cables ran through the wall from Imaeda's bedroom and connected through the roof to the master bedroom occupied by the couple.

Police then went to a converted shed at the rear of the property, which was used only by Imaeda.

Inside the shed they found a large television set up with an Ethernet cable running to it from the house modem.

A recliner chair was set up facing the television. They found laptops, cameras, recording equipment, USB drives and SD cards and another hidden camera disguised as a smoke detector.

Imaeda on site at his shanty town after fire ripped through it in 2014 endangering the lives of student tenants. Photo / via Channel 9

Police arrested Imaeda, who lawyer told Campbelltown Court last month that the property tycoon suffered "from a number of medical issues" which might deem him unsuitable for punishment such as an intensive corrections order.

Imaeda has also pleaded guilty in the Land and Environment Court after being charged with two counts of breaching the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act over his slum town premises in Alexandria.

Justice Terence Sheahan has reserved his sentence on these charges for a later date.