Sompo Japan Insurance controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
2023
Big Motor insurance-fraud affair
Sompo Japan was criticized for maintaining a close business relationship with Big Motor after being alerted to systematic insurance fraud. Regulatory findings and a search of the company’s offices raised questions about management awareness, sales incentives, internal controls and preferential insurance distribution. Sompo Japan was implicated in the wider Big Motor scandal after the used-car dealer was accused of systematic insurance fraud. Regulators scrutinized Sompo Japan because it continued business with Big Motor despite warnings and concerns, and because of the commercial importance of Big Motor’s sales channel. The Financial Services Agency searched Sompo Japan’s offices in September 2023 and criticized the company’s management and oversight.
2022
Van Gogh Sunflowers restitution lawsuit
Heirs of Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy sued in Chicago over the restitution of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, alleging that the painting’s Holocaust-linked ownership history was not properly addressed when it was acquired by the predecessor Yasuda Fire in 1987.
2022
Litigation over the provenance of Sunflowers
Heirs of Jewish banker and art collector Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy filed suit in Chicago seeking to reclaim Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, which Yasuda Fire acquired in 1987. The plaintiffs alleged that the insurer failed to account adequately for the painting’s Holocaust-linked ownership history.