But it corrected the central false impression that Naomi had attacked him because she was embarrassed.
The reaction was immediate.
Several outlets updated their earlier reports.
Others published new stories emphasizing that the waitress had apparently prevented the chairman from consuming a dangerous substance.
The billionaire's admission received almost as much attention as the incident itself.
People were surprised that he publicly acknowledged treating an employee badly.
Some praised the apology.
Others argued that he deserved little credit for recognizing behavior that should never have occurred.
Naomi saw both reactions.
She didn't feel compelled to defend him from criticism.
His apology was meaningful to her because it was specific and truthful.
But it didn't erase the humiliation.
And it didn't change the fact that she had almost been prevented from protecting him because he assumed she had nothing valuable to say.
The investigation into the CFO uncovered a much broader financial problem.
Corporate records showed that several development-related entities received consulting and financing payments connected to the Kameyama Ridge project.
Some had legitimate functions.
Others were difficult to justify.
One company billed Takamura Heritage for advisory services that overlapped with work already performed by existing employees.
Another received fees tied to the successful completion of the mountain development agreement.
The ownership records revealed connections to people associated with the CFO.
Those connections raised questions about undisclosed conflicts.
Investigators and independent auditors began tracing the payments.
They found that the CFO had helped direct certain transactions through intermediaries whose interests were not adequately disclosed to the company's board.
The nephew had participated in some of those arrangements.
But he didn't appear to understand their full structure.
Instead, he had relied on the CFO's assurances that the financing was legitimate and the risks manageable.
That didn't remove his responsibility for his own decisions.
He was an experienced executive.
He signed documents.
He approved projects.
And he concealed debts that should have been disclosed.
But the records suggested the CFO had exploited those weaknesses to gain leverage over him.
For years, the older executive presented himself as the person who could solve the nephew's financial problems.
In reality, several of the solutions made the younger man more dependent on him.
The most important discovery concerned the development consortium.
The consortium wasn't simply an outside group interested in building a luxury resort.
Its structure included several investment vehicles connected through layers of ownership.
Some were controlled by legitimate institutional investors.
Others were associated with private interests that benefited from the proposed transfer of land and water-management rights.
An independent review identified relationships between those interests and the CFO's family.
The implications were serious.
If the Kameyama Ridge agreement proceeded under the original terms, the CFO and certain associates could benefit financially beyond the compensation disclosed to Takamura Heritage.