Broke and with head bowed, Yoshio Yamaki’s voice quivered as he gave his reply to Magistrate Marilyn Go’s question of if he knew why he was in court: “I like to plead guilty”.
The disgraced former president of Long-Island based Sigma USA, who once made over $200,000 a year, showed up to the Brooklyn Federal Court alone and represented by a court-appointed attorney to answer to charges of stealing over $5 million dollars from company coffers to fuel his out of control gambling habit.
An email to Yoshio’s brother, Michihiro Yamaki, Chief Executive Officer and founder of the camera equipment manufacturer parent company in Japan, in 2004 began the unraveling of Yoshio’s career. The anonymous email revealed that he was constantly spotted going to casinos and dropping large amounts of cash, all the while with his mistress at his side.
