The financial scandal at Olympus has turned into a legal one. Several sources report that Japanese prosecutors have raided Olympus' headquarters, offices belonging to business partners implicated in the scandal, and executives' homes.  Japanese television showed the raids live, with "dozens of black-suited investigators marching double file" into one building.

The raids came after Olympus itself admitted to wrongdoing. An independent report had estimated the covered up losses at $1.7 billion, but Olympus itself said it covered up $1.5 billion in a last-minute filing to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The filing came just in time to keep the stock from being delisted, but that could still happen if the raids turn up further evidence of wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Olympus is also being investigated by the FBI in the US and the Serious Fraud Office in the UK.