Shaun Hart — a man connected with the operation of Album Collection, an app used to trade illegal and nonconsensual sexually explicit images — fled Hawaii to Japan, where he continued criminal activities.

The app Album Collection was used to buy and sell nonconsensual, sexually explicit images and child sexual abuse material. It was so popular that, at one point, it ranked number one in the “Photos & Videos” category in Apple’s App Store, and its operators were raking in millions of dollars in annual profits.

Who was leading this business?

During our reporting trip to Hawaii — where the app’s operating company, Eclipse, is registered — we learned that a man named Shaun Hart was likely involved in the app’s operations. What’s more, we heard from the father of Eclipse CEO William Leal that Hart, not Leal, had led the founding of the company. Eclipse is registered in Hawaii, but the meeting with its accounting firm to incorporate the company was held in Japan. The accounting firm staff who attended recalled that Hart was present at the meeting.

Someone who said they knew Hart contacted me after seeing Tansa’s reporting.

“You have no idea how much power Shaun wields in the underworlds of both Japan and the US,” they warned.

Could it be true?

We knew that Hart was wanted by US authorities on charges of theft and drug possession, and that he had fled to Japan. Alongside our reporting partners from NHK, Tansa decided to trace Hart’s activities in Japan.

US media: “Cut off his ankle monitor and is now a fugitive”

In 2018, Hart was wanted by Hawaii’s Honolulu Police Department on suspicion of theft and other crimes. However, the police lost his trail — a fact reported by local media.

On April 8, 2018, local media Hawaii News Now published an article that said, “Hart was told about the new indictment Wednesday and within hours, cut off his ankle monitor and is now a fugitive.”

The US Drug Enforcement Administration’s website currently lists Hart as wanted for “possession with intent to distribute controlled substance.”

We learned that Hart was in Japan through a Japanese media report.

In October 2021, Hart was arrested by the Okinawa Prefectural Police and charged with smuggling cocaine, marijuana, and other drugs from the US to Okinawa, a separate charge from those he was wanted for in the US. According to the Ryukyu Shimpo and Asahi Shimbun newspapers, which reported on the arrest, Hart had used US military bases in Okinawa and paid multiple individuals to transport the drugs.

However, Hart had been wanted in the US since April 2018, and he was arrested by the Okinawa Prefectural Police in October 2021. What had he been doing during that time, and where?

Our investigation found that Hart had established a company called Xenovex in Tokyo in May 2019. Upon learning this, we searched company registration records until we found it.

An apartment in Tokyo

Hart was of Japanese and American descent. He had used his Japanese name, Satoshi Kominami, for Xenovex’s registration.

Xenovex’s website had been shut down. However, using web archives, we were able to see a previous version. It advertised “iPhone/Android app development services.”

“With a wide variety of apps being released, it’s not uncommon for people to purchase smartphones specifically to use apps. We support the entire app development process, from proposal and planning to application and operation,” it said.

Xenovex also provided website development services, and it extolled the company’s “experience in website development across numerous industries, including sites for corporations, restaurants, clinics, and apparel retailers.”

App development and operation was a common theme with Album Collection. However, we found no other helpful information on the site.

We also visited the Tokyo address registered as Xenovex’s office. It was a unit in an apartment building comprised of residential units and other offices.

Power balance with Album Collection operating company president

Xenovex had already vacated the building.

However, the apartment building’s owner recalled renting the room to Hart. That address remained on Xenovex’s company registration even after it had left the building, so the building owner tried to contact the company, but it was unreachable.

There was one other point of note: The building owner recalled that Xenovex had employed a man named William. The CEO of Eclipse — Album Collection’s operating company, registered in Hawaii — was William Leal. There was a strong possibility that this was the same person. In fact, Leal had also been arrested in the Okinawa drug smuggling case, although he was ultimately not prosecuted. He and Hart had been working together in Japan.

Leal had been an employee of Hart’s company Xenovex. This was important information in terms of understanding the pair’s balance of power: It placed Hart above Leal.

When we interviewed Leal’s father in March 2024, he told us that Hart had directed Leal to establish Eclipse, Album Collection’s operating company, in Hawaii.

Connection to the drug smuggling case?

Based on our findings, we understood the sequence of events as follows.

In April 2018, the Honolulu Police Department charged Hart with credit card information theft, as well as possession of illegal drugs. However, he fled to Japan mere hours after being charged.

In November that year, Album Collection’s operating company Eclipse was registered in Hawaii. Because Hart was on the run, he appointed his subordinate, Leal, as president in the company registration information.

In May 2019, Hart founded Xenovex in Tokyo, with Leal as an employee.

In 2021, Hart and Leal were arrested by the Okinawa Prefectural Police on charges of drug smuggling.

Based on this information, it seemed likely that Hart was the de facto operator of Album Collection.

However, something still didn’t quite make sense.

Did Hart and his assistant Leal operate Album Collection on their own? The app generated millions of dollars in profits. Were they the only ones pocketing these huge sums?

In addition, how did Hart manage to flee to Japan in the first place? Are the investigative authorities of Japan and the US so lenient that they allow fugitives to escape and start new business ventures? Might Hart have some kind of organization assisting him? Tansa had even been warned that Hart “wields power in the underworlds of both Japan and the US.”

Adding to these suspicions was the fact that a total of 10 people, both Japanese and Americans, had been arrested in the Okinawa drug smuggling case — not only Hart and Leal. Hart was sentenced to 13 years in prison. It was a major operation.

Might the same criminal organization be connected to both Album Collection’s business and the drug smuggling in Okinawa? We headed to Okinawa to search for answers.

To be continued.

(Originally published on June 6, 2025.)

Uploaded and Re-Uploaded: All articles