A Sydney slumlord who rented New Zealanders spots in a "shanty-town" that then went up in flames and who was later convicted of spying on other tenants having sex is now being sued for millions, a report in Australia says.
According to the Daily Mail Australia, documents in the New South Wales Supreme Court show money was allegedly transferred to the family companies of Masaaki Imaeda after his inner-city lot erupted in flames and he sold the property for about AU$4m.
The Daily Mail reports an application has been filed in liquidation proceedings for his insolvent company, seeking that he and wife Mariko Imaeda pay $2.07m and $2.41m respectively.
In 2014, an industrial property of Imaeda's in Alexandria, Sydney went up in flames.
Since described in media as a "shanty-town", the property had a number of decrepit vehicles, rundown buildings, and shipping containers which were rented to people.
That reportedly included Japanese, Korean and New Zealand students, who were nearly killed when a massive blaze engulfed the property.
"I'm outraged that there would be something like this in the heart of Sydney,'' NSW Fire and Rescue Commissioner Greg Mullins said at the time. "It looks like someone has been taking advantage of these people."
An electrical fault was later blamed for the fire and Imaeda was fined.
However, just two years later, he was back in the headlines after it was reported that police had been called to a property of his in southwest Sydney after tenants found a hidden camera in their room.
Police discovered a network of cameras that connected to a secret room where Imaeda could watch the tenants in private and having sex.
He was arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of installing or using an optical device without consent and of observing a person in private without consent to obtain sexual arousal. The property mogul was sentenced to 17 months in prison, with a 10-month non-parole period.
