So, who is Takashi Okubo? At least by one account — apparently his own — he’s pals with the Japanese royal family, numerous political heavyweights, and controls a $1-billion business empire.
The Tampa Bay Lightning’s official biography of Okubo, 53, states that he is the chairman of 20 companies in the medical, media and recreation industries. He played baseball in high school and now likes to golf, garden and collect artwork. He is described as a "family man."
Throughout Okubo’s eight-year relationship with Tampa, he and his associates have steadfastly refused to provide detailed or audited financial statements on his companies, including Kokusai Green Co. Ltd., which controls the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, documents and information obtained by the Weekly Planet add details to what Okubo and his associates claim about their operations. But, many of the assertions are hard to verify.
Okubo’s group of 20 companies include, in addition to what’s noted in the Lightning biography, an automobile dealership, an advertising agency and an electric transformer company in Hong Kong, plus a real estate operation in Hawaii, according to documents obtained from sources with access to the Japanese government. Okubo or his companies provided the information in the documents, the sources said.
Bank documents in Tampa also show that Okubo owns an academy and a hotel in Japan, and a business in Frankfurt, Germany. Those aren’t listed on the Japanese documents.
The companies listed in the Japanese documents employ 3,036 people, including 230 with the Lightning. The accuracy of the total figure is anyone’s guess. However, the Lightning’s payroll is only 55 to 60 people, according to team executives.
Annual revenues (based on the current value of the yen) are almost $200 million and assets are valued at more than $1 billion, the Japanese documents assert. The documents provide no substantiation for the numbers.
The oldest of Okubo’s companies, Daiwa Industry K.K., was formed in 1960 and is a landscaping and gardening business. Lightning officials in the past have said Okubo got his start selling fruits and vegetables.
"We just couldn’t find the sort of money or the companies they say exist," said a consultant for Marc Ganis, who has filed two federal lawsuits involving the Lightning. The consultant said he spent more than six months seeking information about Okubo’s operations, including visits to Japan. "Some of the companies don’t exist. Others do, but they don’t have the sort of cash flow they (Lightning and Kokusai Green officials) claim."
The consultant said he had visited Kokusai Green’s headquarters in Tokyo’s tony Ginza commercial and entertainment district. The offices employed only a handful of people, the consultant said.
Independent searches of online databases and news services produce almost no information on Okubo or his companies — certainly unusual for a financial conglomerate as large as is boasted. The few mentions relate to Okubo’s ownership of the Lightning.
The Japanese documents state that Okubo’s "associates" include:
Simon said through a spokeswoman that he had heard of Okubo but "did not know him very well, hardly at all, and not well enough to comment about him in any respect."
In the United States, one of Okubo’s connections is Jiro Murase, a prominent New York lawyer who has figured in President Clinton’s fund-raising scandals. Murase contributed at least $50,000 to attend a June 7, 1995, coffee at the White House.
Documents from Japanese sources show that Okubo’s personal assets are claimed to be about $64 million, and include such intriguing items as "hundreds of art works such as paintings by Yokoyama-Taikan, Ryusaburo Umehara, Tsumuji Fujita and pottery" valued at $9.5 million. His cash on hand is reported at $22.5 million.
Lightning president Steve Oto said he would estimate Okubo’s worth at about $250 million. Oto didn’t contest the $64 million figure, but said it was based on the purchase price of assets, many acquired years ago, and that they have now appreciated in value.
Some reports in local daily newspapers have called Okubo a near-billionaire.
In case you’re visiting Tokyo and would like to meet the man who has received $87 million in Hillsborough County tax dollars, he lives at 8-11-11, Akasaka, Minato-ku, the Japanese documents state. His permanent residence is listed as 342, Johhoku-cho, Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaragi Prefecture.
Okubo’s wife is named Keiko, and he has two sons, Shigenobu and Keijiro. Keijiro has attended classes at the University of South Florida, the University of Tampa and Eckerd College.
At the heart of Okubo’s empire is Kokusai Green, whose primary business is operating golf courses. One of those golf courses is located in the rural town where Okubo was born in 1943, Ibaragi. Altogether, Kokusai Green has five golf courses, Oto said last week.
In 1992, Lightning executive Mushao Miyake filed papers with Sun Bank of Tampa Bay that said there were three golf courses. The financial key to Kokusai Green is the Japanese fanaticism for golf. Membership fees in Okubo’s clubs range from $30,000 to almost $120,000. The fees are refunded if a member quits, but Kokusai Green has full use of the money in the meantime, according to the Sun Bank documents.
The Sun Bank documents weren’t audited — as with virtually all other information from Kokusai Green. But, if correct, the company has collected an amazing $358 million from its golf club members.
"The golf courses aren’t making money, certainly not at the levels that have funded the Lightning," said the consultant for Ganis.
Other official documents detail a series of cash transfers from Kokusai Green to the Lightning. The transfers, made between October 1991 and February 1996, total about $78 million. Oto acknowledged that is the approximate amount Okubo has infused into the Lightning.
An undercurrent in Ganis’ lawsuits is: What’s the source of Okubo’s money? In the unaudited statements to Sun Bank, Kokusai Green claimed 1991 profits of only $3 million and projected 1992 income at less than $600,000.
A financial analyst who examined Lightning documents said those profits would be vastly insufficient to fund the losses at the Lightning. "I suppose they could have used the money for the golf memberships, but I assume they use that money to build the golf clubs and a fund has to be available to return the money to members," the analyst said.
Lightning officials have refused to discuss the source of the cash infusions to the Lightning. When Lightning lawyer Paul Davis was asked by the Planet: "Where did the money come from?" he responded: "I don’t ask that of any of my clients."
Very few local business leaders have ever met Okubo. Most business associates in Tampa say they were forbidden by Kokusai Green executives from trying to contact Okubo. Only Oto and Lightning executive vice president Chris Phillips speak regularly with Okubo.
There was one exception, however. When Sun Bank was evaluating its loan to the Lightning in 1992, the bank’s then-chairman, George Koehn, flew to Japan.
"I met Okubo at one of his properties, a very upscale country club," recalled Koehn. "We had dinner. It was very pleasant and he was cordial. He didn’t speak English, so it was hard to develop a business rapport."
Koehn said he learned little more about Okubo and his operations, but that he was comfortable with the loan because it was secured by a long list of Lightning assets and property.
"What do I think of Okubo?" Koehn mused. "It’s hard to say. I never knew that much about him."