{"id":173529,"date":"2025-10-09T11:41:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T02:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=173529&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2025-10-09T11:41:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T02:41:59","slug":"ex-wedding-hall-ceo-jailed-for-covid-aid-fraud","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/ex-wedding-hall-ceo-jailed-for-covid-aid-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Wedding Hall CEO Jailed for COVID Aid Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Fukuoka District Court sentenced Atsushi Ogushi, former president of Kurume-based wedding hall operator Arcadia, to four years in prison for defrauding about \u00a572 million in COVID employment subsidies. Ogushi and three others exaggerated closure days in 2022 to receive excess aid. Judge Yasuhiro Okamoto said the case undermined public trust in a vital support system. The co-defendants received suspended sentences, while Arcadia later filed for bankruptcy in March 2025. <\/span><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/kbc.co.jp\/news\/article.php?id=16192605&amp;ymd=2025-10-08\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KBC<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-173524\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/fnn_kurume-arcadia_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C1400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"1400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/fnn_kurume-arcadia_2025_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/fnn_kurume-arcadia_2025_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/fnn_kurume-arcadia_2025_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/fnn_kurume-arcadia_2025_cl.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/fnn_kurume-arcadia_2025_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>Photo from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Arcadia official facebook<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Fukuoka District Court sentenced Atsushi Ogushi, former president of Kurume-based wedding hall operator Arcadia&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":173524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-173529","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-kurume","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/173529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}