Hiromasa Ezoe was found guilty Tuesday for his role in the Recruit scandal, which shook Japan's political, bureaucratic and business circles in the late 1980s, making him the last of the 12 charged in the case to be sentenced.
When the trials started in 1989, all but one of the 12 defendants pleaded innocent. Fourteen years later, 11 guilty rulings have been finalized, while it is unknown whether Ezoe intends to appeal his.
Ezoe distributed pre-flotation shares of Recruit Cosmos Co., a real estate subsidiary of his Recruit Co., to dozens of political and business leaders as well as elite bureaucrats either to garner specific favors or to build personal relations.