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Trial of cult leader Fukunaga begins

TOKYO, Japan - People form a long queue around the Tokyo District Court on Oct. 12 hours before the start of the first hearing in the trial for fraud of Hogen Fukunaga, founder of the Ho-no-Hana Sampogyo religious group, and nine of its senior members. Police believe Ho-no-Hana, based in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, has defrauded at least 30,000 people out of 95 billion yen.

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cult leader Fukunaga

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows Hogen Fukunaga, founder of the Ho-no-Hana Sampogyo religious group, whose trial on fraud charges began at the Tokyo District Court on Oct. 12.

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Court orders Ho-no-Hana to pay damages

FUKUOKA, Japan - Katsushige Koga (C), lawyer for the plaintiffs in a law suit against the Ho-no-Hana Sampogyo religious group, speaks at a news conference April 28 after a court ordered the group and its founder Hogen Fukunaga to pay 27 people 227.2 million yen in damages for swindling them of money in the name of ascetic practice fees.

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Headquarters of Ho-no-Hana religious group

FUJI, Japan - File photo shows the headquarters of the Ho-no-Hana Sampogyo religious group, located in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture. A district court ordered the group and its founder Hogen Fukunaga April 28 to pay 27 people 227.2 million yen in damages for swindling them of money in the name of ascetic practice fees.

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Ho-no-Hana sect founder denies fraud charges

FUJI, Japan - Hogen Fukunaga, founder of the Ho-no-Hana Sampogyo religious sect and currently under investigation on suspicion of fraud, speaks to his followers at the sect's headquarters in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on Dec. 8. Later in the day, he denied the alleged fraud charges in his first press conference held at the headquarters since police raids on locations linked to the sect on Dec. 4.

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More Ho-no-Hana facilities raided over fraud charges

TOKYO, Japan - Investigators enter Atami Ningen Yuin (Atami hospital to cure human beings), a hotel in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, west of Tokyo, used mainly by people traveling tours organized by the Ho-no-Hana Sampogyo religious sect, for evidence of fraud charges no Dec. 4. The Atami hotel is one of 32 facilities in 12 prefectures linked to the religious sect, searched by police in the day.

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Religious group raided for alleged fraud

TOKYO, Japan - Police investigators carry out boxes of evidence from the house of Hogen Fukunaga, guru of the ''Ho-no-Hana Sampogyo'' religious group, in Shibuya, Tokyo, on Dec. 1. Police raided facilities linked to the group on suspicion it tricked thousands of people into paying large sums of money to cure what it falsely claimed were serious illnesses.

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'Ho-no-Hana' religious group raided for alleged fraud

FUJI, Japan - Police raided offices and gathering spots linked to the ''Ho-no-Hana Sampogyo'' religious group on Dec. 1 on suspicion of tricking thousands of people into paying large sums of money to cure what it falsely claimed were serious illnesses. Photo shows a raid at the group's head office in the city of Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, in central Japan.

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Ex-foot-cult leader Fukunaga arrested

TOKYO, Japan - Hogen Fukunaga, former leader of the foot-reading Ho-no-Hana Sampogyo cult, is escorted to a police car at Tokyo's Shibuya on May 9 after being arrested along with ten other senior cultists on suspicion of fraud.

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