(55)    Wed 28 May 97 22:58
By: David Bloomberg
To: All
Re: Japanese Court Sides Against "Psychic"
St:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@EID:0201 22bcb740
@MSGID: 1:2430/2112 7ad21666
From:   skeptic@listproc.hcf.jhu.edu
Message-Id: <199705271746.KAA01193@cascadia.a42.com>
Subject: 'Universe power' quack to pay 100 mil. yen for fraud (fwd)

'Universe power' quack to pay 100 mil. yen for fraud

TOKYO, May 27 (Kyodo) -- The Tokyo District Court ordered a Chinese woman
and her husband Tuesday to pay 100 million yen in damages for swindling
people of money by pretending to be able to cure illnesses through
"universe power."

A total of 30 people, including the patients and their families, had filed
the suit with the court demanding compensation.

Presiding Judge Takashi Sonoo said in the ruling that Zhao Jin, 32,
practiced malicious deception by calling herself a psychic and taking
advantage of patients who sorely wanted to get better.

The court also determined that TV programs and books by Nippon Television
Network Corp. on Zhao's self-professed "universe power" are deceptive.

Sonoo said he would urge the plaintiffs to try to reach a reconciliation
with Nippon Television and the company that made the programs, which have
also been charged and are being tried separately.

According to the ruling, Zhao studied a healing method known in Chinese as
"qigong" for only three months, despite professing that she was a doctor.
She also claimed to be a psychic and a genius, and used such claims to
attract customers.

After arriving in Japan in 1989, she started practicing her fake healing
method -- which she called "universe power" -- with her Japanese husband
in 1992, the ruling said.

The couple swindled large sums of money from patients with serious
illnesses by charging as much as 3.8 million yen for a nine-month healing
course, it said.

Nippon Television broadcast programs on Zhao from December 1992 to December
1993, and later published books on her alleged healing power without
bothering to check on her claim to be a "qigong" doctor, the ruling said.

Zhao continued her activities in facilities that she set up around Nippon
Television's main office. People with serious illnesses who learned of Zhao
through the TV programs came to her for treatment but did not get better,
and some of them later died.

Zhao has not responded to the charges and did not attend the court Tuesday.


--- msgedsq 2.0.5
 * Origin: Let the love of truth shine clear   (1:2430/2112)
SEEN-BY: 12/12 24/888 102/2 106/2000 124/1 130/1008 133/2 140/23 143/1
SEEN-BY: 147/34 2021 154/222 167/166 170/400 202/777 1207 1919 213/213
SEEN-BY: 218/2 801 890 900 901 907 244/1500 267/200 270/101 275/429 280/1
SEEN-BY: 280/169 282/1 62 310/666 323/107 343/600 346/250 356/18 371/42
SEEN-BY: 377/86 382/92 387/5 396/1 45 690/660 730/2 2401/0 2442/0 3603/420
SEEN-BY: 3612/41 3615/50 3619/25 3632/21 3651/9 3652/1 3667/1 3674/1
SEEN-BY: 3828/2 5100/8

@PATH: 2430/1 1423 270/101 396/1 218/907 801