A federal judge lamented sentencing guidelines as he gave a man a five-year prison term for embezzling $62 million to pay for lavish homes, jewels and exotic pets for his estranged wife.
Yasuyoshi Kato, the former chief financial officer of Day-Lee Foods, also was ordered to pay back $100 each year he is in custody. The jail sentence was 63 months, or five years and three months."It seems remarkable that the sentencing guidelines, as stringent as they are in other areas, only permit a sentence of this amount for something as extraordinary as this case," U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson said.
Kato could have faced up to 76 years in prison. Wilson followed sentencing guidelines based, among other things, on Kato's lack of a criminal record.
Kato, 39, said nothing while being sentenced Monday. An interpreter whispered the sentence to him. He must surrender to authorities Nov. 3.
Kato was convicted of committing what prosecutors believe is the largest single corporate embezzlement in U.S. history. Stolen money was spent on homes, cars, failed business ventures and unusual pets, including two $10,000 Hyacinth macaws, potbellied pigs, emus, sharks and miniature horses.
Kato and his lawyer, John Yzurdiaga, declined to comment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Michael Zweiback called the sentence a fair one. He said Kato, a Japanese citizen, probably will be deported after serving his sentence.
Kato, who pleaded guilty to six counts of wire, mail and tax fraud in July, was accused of taking $62 million from Day-Lee Foods, a meat processing company in suburban Santa Fe Springs.
For six or seven years, he wrote company checks to himself and his wife, taking out bank loans for the company to cover the theft, prosecutors said. He forged daily accounting entries to cover up the scheme.
Kato cannot afford to pay back the money, Zweiback said. Court-appointed receivers have been charged with selling his assets to recoup losses. Kato will have to pay at least $1,200 per year after his release.
In court, Kato's lawyer asked for leniency, arguing that Kato was at the mercy of an insatiable wife, Doria Ann Beiler-Hozumi.
"He married a very unusual human being whose excesses, apparently, cannot be satisfied by anything," Yzurdiaga said.
Beiler-Hozumi was not charged in the case, although she is named in a $95 million civil suit filed by Day-Lee Foods. Her April bankruptcy filing, which was denied, listed her monthly expenditures at $25,576.48.