Sōkaiya
Japanese corporate racketeers / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sōkaiya (総会屋) (sometimes also translated as "corporate bouncers", "meeting-men", or "corporate blackmailers") are specialized racketeers unique to Japan, and often associated with the yakuza, who extort money from or blackmail companies by threatening to publicly humiliate companies and their management, usually in their annual meeting (総会, sōkai).
If a company does pay sōkaiya, the sōkaiya will work to prevent others from embarrassing the company, either through intimidation or by disrupting the meeting so they cannot be heard.
The number of sōkaiya has decreased over the years, and in 2023 there were only about 150 sōkaiya, of whom 30 worked in groups and 120 worked alone.[1]