The State - News from June 5, 1988

A former broker for Shearson Lehman Hutton in San Francisco, known for his flashy life style, was jailed and accused of bilking clients out of more than $1.2 million in a wire-fraud scam. Yasuhiro Nomoto, a Japanese citizen, was arrested by the FBI Friday while he was waiting at San Francisco International Airport to board a flight to Japan. He was charged with four counts of using interstate wires to transfer money for fraudulent schemes and booked into San Francisco County Jail. Federal officials said Nomoto allegedly forged the name of a superior to gain permission from Shearson’s New York office to transfer funds out of the firm’s accounts in Los Angeles. The money in turn was transferred to accounts in San Francisco under Nomoto’s control. He also allegedly opened an account for a client and deposited the client’s money in Shearson’s account. Then he opened a joint account at another bank, using his own and the client’s names, and completed the scam by transferring the client’s money to the joint account, where he could withdraw funds for his own use.