Photo/Illutration Nihon University's facility that houses its weightlifting team's practice facility in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on June 3 (Noriki Nishioka)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on June 10 arrested Kenji Nanba, 63, a former head coach of Nihon University’s weightlifting team, on suspicion of defrauding the parents of scholarship students who planned to join the team.

According to investigative sources, in December 2022, Nanba allegedly lied to four parents of prospective team members that he had applied to the university for their children as scholarship students and told them that they would not be charged tuition or other fees after their second year.

Then, Nanba, a resident of Komae, western Tokyo, is accused of defrauding them of a total of 2.05 million yen ($14,200) in admission fees, tuition, and facility and equipment funds.

Scholarship recipients are determined by the university’s headquarters and are essentially exempt from paying admission and tuition fees.

According to investigative sources, Nanba collected approximately 38 million yen from 48 parents of scholarship students enrolled from fiscal 2015 to fiscal 2024.

According to the university, Nanba spent much of the defrauded money for personal purposes.

By last year, the university had refunded the money to the affected scholarship recipients and others.

However, in a civil lawsuit filed by the university against Nanba, the former coach claimed that the money he received from the scholarship recipients was a “donation.”

Nanba said, “Applicants who had difficulty in raising the admission fee or who had potential but had not proven themselves were treated as scholarship recipients if they first paid a donation. I only accepted the donation with the consent from their parents.”

The university first disclosed this issue in July 2024.

It revealed that Nanba sent an enrollment guide and invoice for payment to the parents of scholarship students with false information, such as “exemption from payments starts from the second year,” and had them transfer the money to the team’s account.

The university dismissed Nanba from his position and reported him to Tokyo police.

The university’s weightlifting team was founded in 1961.

It has won the national intercollegiate championships more than 20 times, including back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024.

The powerhouse team has also produced Olympic medalists in the past. Nanba had served as the head coach of the team since fiscal 2000.

The scandal is the latest to plague sports teams and the administration at Nihon University.

A subsequent internal investigation uncovered similar financial irregularities in the university’s track and field and skating clubs.

The track and field club had improperly collected approximately 44 million yen from 25 students, while the skating club had inappropriately garnered approximately 24 million yen from 29 students.

In both cases, the university refunded the money to the victims.

The university said its internal investigation did not confirm any personal use of the money by officials of these teams.

According to investigative sources, the Metropolitan Police Department has not received any complaints regarding the two teams.

After these problems were discovered, the university released a statement on its website, “We deeply apologize to the affected team members, former team members, and their parents. We are determined to cut off the roots of the scandal and promote improvements and reforms.”

In 2018, a malicious late hit on an opposing team's quarterback by a player on Nihon University's American football team became a highly publicized social problem.

In 2021, the then university's chancellor was arrested on tax evasion charges.

In 2023, the members of the American football team and others were caught up in an illegal drug case accused of cannabis possession and use of other illicit drugs. The scandal prompted the university to disband the football team. 

(This article was written by Arata Mitsui and Noriki Nishioka.)

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