Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Criminal Investigation Department has formally accepted a criminal complaint from unbanked inc. (TSE: 8746) over a gold bullion trade in which the company says it delivered the metal but never collected payment.
The complaint, filed with the department's Investigation Division 2, was accepted on August 19, 2026. It names five individuals connected to former suppliers, former buyers and former outsourced partners involved in the transaction. unbanked alleges the group conspired to defraud it of property, an offense it says falls under Article 246(1) of the Penal Code together with the conspiracy provision in Article 60. Police acceptance of the complaint moves the criminal track forward; it is not a finding on the merits, a charging decision, or evidence of guilt.
The case traces back to a February 4, 2026 disclosure, when unbanked first flagged delayed collection on the gold bullion sale, at the time worth ¥1.34bn in uncollected sales receivables. The company said then it would pursue both civil damages and, pending legal advice, a criminal complaint. The disclosure names the counterparty in the underlying transaction by its Japanese corporate name, which this article does not reproduce in English absent a verified romanization.
unbanked now puts its stated loss at ¥1.36bn, covering 61 gold bars in total, a figure the company says grew from the receivable first disclosed in February. The company said the formal acceptance of the complaint carries no impact on earnings by itself, that it will cooperate fully with the ongoing police investigation, and that it will promptly disclose any material developments as the case proceeds.
For a firm whose core business sits in financial services, an unresolved ¥1.36bn bullion claim remains a live question on the balance sheet even as the criminal process is only just getting underway.