Japanese businessman defrauded of $21 million by the U.S. space tourism company
Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto paid $21 million dollars to Space Adventures to arrange a trip to the International Space Station. However, after undergoing training he was dropped from the mission for “medical reasons” and replaced with one of Space Adventures’ investors. Space Adventures refused to give Enomoto a refund, so he is suing the company:
Space Adventures’ lawyers said Enomoto’s contract did not entitle him to a refund if he became medically disqualified.
“That was a risk he undertook,” they said. “Even if Enomoto could prove his unlikely claim that he was somehow misled, he suffered absolutely no damage from any misstatement because … the cause of his failure to fly was medical disqualification, not lack of authority.”
Enomoto claims Space Adventures persuaded Russian space officials to disqualify him under the pretense of medical issues.
“Mr. Enomoto’s ‘medical condition’ was no worse than it was just two weeks prior to his disqualification, when he was medically cleared by the Russian Government Medical Commission,” the lawsuit said.
Nor was his health any worse than it was seven weeks before his disqualification, when Enomoto was cleared by the group of five doctors charged with approving private citizen travel to the space station. They included doctors from the Russian Federal Space Agency, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and other space station partners, the lawsuit said.
As reported earlier on Japan Probe, Enomoto had been planning to dress up as Gundam character Char Anzable during his time on the ISS. Let’s hope this cosplayer gets at least some of his money back!
