Reminder that Former Tampa Bay Lightning Owner is Allegedly a Yakuza Boss

The Tampa Bay Lightning have had five separate owners over their 29 year history. One of those owners was a consortium of Japanese businesses headed by Kokusai Green, a golf course and resort operator. During their six year ownership of the Lightning, Kokusai Green's CEO was a man named Takashi Okubo.

I spent an hour researching that name and found almost nothing. What I did find suggests that Okubo is in tight with the Japanese royal family and a number of political elites, and controls a billion-dollar empire. His ownership of the Lightning, which is well-documented, can be summarized as ineffective and unsuccessful, hence why they sold the team. It was reported that when the team was sold, it was over $50,000,000 in debt.

Okubo was described by a courtroom witness as a 'gangster' and allegedly has ties to the Japanese criminal organization of legend known as Yakuza.

Allegedly.

Sports teams are a decent means of laundering money for criminal organizations, so it doesn't take a genius to ascertain why a Yakuza boss would seek to own one. And if Okubo's dossier is even partially accurate, his dealings are considerable, so he certainly could have laundered money through the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise. Obviously, hearsay, conjecture, etc. etc.

But it's something to think about.

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