Tokyo police sources say former Upper House member GaaSyy earned over 100-million yen, or about 720,000 dollars, from YouTube video-sharing sites.

GaaSyy, whose real name is Higashitani Yoshikazu, was arrested on Sunday when he returned to Japan from the United Arab Emirates. He was charged with repeatedly slandering and threatening three people -- a celebrity, a businessperson and a designer -- from February through August of last year.

He was taken to Tokyo prosecutors on Tuesday.

Investigative sources say he used multiple online video accounts, one of which temporarily had more than 1 million followers.

His video-sharing sites are believed to have earned him more than 100-million yen in advertising income during the period from April to August of last year.

The sources say GaaSyy appears to have started streaming videos after people around him told him he could make money by exposing the personal stories of celebrities.

Investigators suspect that the huge profits possible through YouTube video-sharing may have motivated the former lawmaker to repeatedly make extreme remarks in his videos.