Independent Upper House member Tatsuo Tomobe was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday for swindling 35 people out of about 665 million yen between 1994 and 1996 in a scam involving his Orange Kyosai bogus mutual aid scheme.
The Tokyo District Court also found Tomobe's 64-year-old wife, Mikiko, Orange Kyosai's managing director, guilty of similar charges and sentenced her to five years.
Prosecutors had demanded that Tomobe, 71, be given a 10-year sentence, and his wife six years.