12 in Japanese Sect Held on Fraud Charges

TOKYO —  The founder of a rapidly growing religious cult was arrested Tuesday for allegedly swindling followers with false claims that he heard divine voices and that he wielded power over people’s fates by examining their feet.

Police and prosecutors said they believe that Hogen Fukunaga’s claims were an attempt at fraud. Police also arrested 11 other leaders of the neo-Buddhist sect, the Ho-no-Hana Sanpogyo, or the Way of the Flower-Three Teachings, which Fukunaga founded in 1987.

A cult spokesman called the arrests “a thunderbolt from the blue” and denied the charges.

“These arrests are for us like dying a thousands deaths,” group spokesman Ichiro Takeda said in a statement. “We are not engaged in brainwashing or mind control . . . and the group was not set up for the purpose of amassing money.”

Japanese police have been cracking down on cults since late last year, when a leader of the doomsday cult involved in the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subways was released from prison.

Ho-no-Hana had already drawn national attention through Fukunaga’s opulent lifestyle and the lavishness of the group’s facilities.

Fukunaga preached to followers in well-tailored suits, his silver hair slicked back. The group’s headquarters in Shizuoka prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, boasts a fountain made of two huge golden feet, while the Tokyo branch is in a posh neighborhood alongside embassies and expensive homes.

Complaints against the group surfaced four years ago, and more than 1,000 former members have filed lawsuits seeking a total of $50 million in damages.

The arrests came 11 days after a court ruled that the group had defrauded some members by warning them that they would die or get cancer unless they had the soles of their feet inspected by Fukunaga.

The guru claimed that he could cure illnesses and gain insight on followers by examining their feet. The sect was ordered to pay 27 former members $2.12 million in damages.