Who Is Takeshi Ebisawa? Yakuza Boss Charged With Trafficking Nuke Materials

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday announced the unsealing of an indictment charging a Japanese national with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials.

The DOJ further said the accused, Takeshi Ebisawa, is a leader within the Yakuza transnational organized crime syndicate. He and his co-defendant, also a Japanese national, allegedly trafficked nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma to other countries.

Ebisawa, 60, and co-defendant Somphop Singhasiri, 61, were previously charged in April 2022 with international narcotics trafficking and firearms offenses, noted the office of Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Both previously pleaded not guilty to those charges, and the men are scheduled to be arraigned on the new charges on Thursday.

"The defendant stands accused of conspiring to sell weapons grade nuclear material and lethal narcotics from Burma, and to purchase military weaponry on behalf of an armed insurgent group," Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division said in a DOJ press release on Wednesday.

Olsen added: "It is chilling to imagine the consequences had these efforts succeeded and the Justice Department will hold accountable those who traffic in these materials and threaten U.S. national security and international stability."

Not much information has been made public about Ebisawa's life, other than the indictment's claim that he is a leader within Yakuza, which is described in the document as a "highly organized, transnational Japanese criminal network that operates around the world."

"Ebisawa's criminal activities have included large-scale narcotics and weapons trafficking, and his international criminal network extends through Asia, Europe, and the United States, among other places," the indictment said.

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C., via email on Wednesday night.

Prosecutors said Ebisawa and his confederates allegedly "showed samples of nuclear materials in Thailand" to an undercover agent from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who was posing as a drugs and weapons trafficker with ties to an Iranian general.

Williams said in the DOJ's release that Ebisawa had "brazenly" trafficked the nuclear materials with knowledge that they would be used to develop weapons, calling it "impossible to overstate the seriousness of this conduct."

"The defendant brazenly trafficked material containing uranium and weapons-grade plutonium," said Williams. "He did so while believing that the material was going to be used in the development of a nuclear weapons program, and while also negotiating for the purchase of deadly weapons."

The indictment also mentions three unnamed co-conspirators who were not indicted but were said to be part of "a network of associates" that participated in the alleged scheme to traffic in nuclear materials.

Ebisawa is charged with a total of eight counts, including conspiracy to commit international trafficking of nuclear materials; trafficking of nuclear materials; conspiracy to acquire, transfer and possess surface-to-air missiles; and money laundering, among other charges.

If convicted, Ebisawa could face life in prison. Singhasiri is also facing a potential life sentence.