Olympus has filed a suit against its former executives for allegedly covering up the estimated $1.7bn loss.
Olympus said it filed the suit against 19 former executives seeking a total of more than ¥16bn ($208m) in damages at the Tokyo District Court.
Olympus said it made the decision to file the lawsuit on the back of a report commissioned by the company after the scandal broke last November. The report found Olympus executives as the main counterparts responsible for the fraud suit is in accordance with “the report’s findings considering the ability to pay [and] degree of involvement” for each director.
The Olympus scandal came to light after ousted chief executive Michael Woodford questioned excessively large adviser fees of acquisition deals after being fired by the firm in October. It was later revealed the fees were a vehicle to hide billions in losses.