Nobody suggests that the president’s brother broke any laws by advising a Tokyo firm called West Tsusho to put $5 million into a New York financial-services firm. He was paid a $250,000 finder’s fee and was promised a three year, $750,000 consultancy contract. He also is reported to have recommended that the Japanese invest in Quantum Access Inc., a Texas software company he said last year is run by his nephew; police in Tokyo are investigating whether that deal violated reporting requirements under Japanese foreign-exchange laws. What raised eyebrows was a Kyodo News Service report that West Tsusho is controlled by Susumu Ishii, until recently the alleged head of Inagawakai, one of Japan’s three main crime organizations. Did the president’s brother suspect such a link? He wasn’t available for comment.
The yakuza - organized crime rings - have grown increasingly adept at using respectable businessmen to help stash their illegal profits. Bush may have been an “innocent bystander,” as one White House aide insists. But like other presidential siblings before him, he appears to have left himself open to trading on his connections.
