Takashi Okamoto

Takashi Okamoto, 43, was charged in Ohio in May 2001 with stealing genetic materials on Alzheimer's disease while working at the Learner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in July 1999.

Presiding Judge Masaru Suda brushed aside the U.S. charge that Okamoto had acted with the intent of profiting by delivering the materials to Japan's Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, popularly known as Riken, where he worked after his return from the United States.

Japan and the United States have an extradition treaty, but Tokyo only sends its citizens to face charges abroad if they have been accused of acts that are illegal in Japan.

Okamoto denied industrial espionage and argued he just wanted to punish a subordinate in his laboratory by depriving him of samples.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 3, 2004
(C) All rights reserved