TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Two former talents of the Japanese entertainment agency previously known as Johnny & Associates Inc. have filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court against the firm and its executives, seeking over $300 million in damages for alleged sexual abuse during their youth, a source close to the matter said Thursday.

The lawsuit filed in Clark County, Nevada, is believed to be the first by victims seeking compensation since the company publicly acknowledged in September last year that its founder, Johnny Kitagawa, who died in 2019, had sexually abused its performers.

The plaintiffs are Junya Tanaka, 43, and Kyohei Iida, 37, according to the suit. Tanaka alleges that Kitagawa sexually abused him at a Las Vegas hotel in March 1997 when he was 15 years old, while Iida claims he experienced similar abuse in August 2002 when he was 14.

Both plaintiffs allege that they were subjected to regular abuse during their time with the company, spanning from 1997 to 1998 for Tanaka and 2002 to 2006 for Iida.

They are each seeking $50 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages.

The suit also holds Kitagawa's niece, Julie Keiko Fujishima, and other former executives responsible for failing to take appropriate action despite being aware of the abuse.

Fujishima is currently a director of Smile-Up Inc., the successor company to Johnny & Associates, dedicated to providing redress to sexual abuse victims.

Speaking through their lawyers, Tanaka expressed a desire for "people around the world to know that for decades in Japan, speaking out about this kind of abuse was suppressed," while Iida stressed that "to ensure such incidents are never repeated, a fundamental shift in societal awareness is crucial."