Misappropriation of overpayment by law firm Nearly 6,000 people are not refunded 4:27 on July 27

The problem is that the lawyer, "Tokyo Minerva Law Office," misappropriated approximately 3 billion yen, which was originally overpaid to be returned to a person who had a debt in consumer finance. It turns out that nearly 6,000 people have signed up with this law firm and haven't returned any money.

The Tokyo Minerva Law Office, which had been handling repayment requests for overpaid money nationwide, got stuck in cash flow and received a decision from the court last month to start bankruptcy proceedings.

The Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association, which I belong to, is investigating detailed information, but I found that there are nearly 6,000 people who have contracted with Tokyo Minerva and have not been refunded money.

The amount misappropriated is estimated to be about 3 billion yen, and according to the people concerned, it was spent from the account that manages the overpayment to return to the contractor, and was used for the payment cost to the external advertising company etc. about it.

The bar association is considering disciplinary action against the representative lawyer of the office.

Takashi Teramae, chairman of the Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association, said, "I didn't fully manage the management of the office, such as contracts with business partners. In this case, I originally handled thousands of customers with a few lawyers. That is a problem in itself, and in the future, the bar association will also review training etc. and try to prevent recurrence."