Feeding Frenzy

Just a few weeks ago, Takafumi Horie would retire every evening to his palatial home in one of Tokyo's most prestigious apartment towers, where it's said that rents can exceed $50,000 a month. Now, however, Horie spends his days and nights in an unheated jail cell the size of three tatami mats. On Jan. 23, a week after investigators from the Tokyo District Court Public Prosecutor's Office raided the headquarters of Livedoor, the Internet company Horie founded a decade ago, he and three other executives were arrested on suspicion of securities fraud. The 33-year-old tycoon has since resigned as CEO, leaving...