Between 2021-2023, a former employee at one of game publisher Bandai Namco’s subsidiaries allegedly “misappropriated” around 500 million yen (approximately $3.38 million USD), resulting in the employee’s arrest and a temporary pay cut for many of the subsidiary’s leadership, the company has announced.
While the arrest happened in January 2024 and Bandai Namco has since been pursuing civil and criminal charges against the former employee, the company is just now able to disclose the incident, according to a press release outlining the alleged misconduct and the steps Bandai Namco has taken to remedy the situation.
The alleged embezzlement occurred at Bandai Namco’s Hong Kong subsidiary Bandai Logipal and was discovered via an internal audit. Following the former employee’s arrest, Bandai Logipal took disciplinary actions against many of its leadership in the form of a temporary pay deduction. Four officers and three full-time directors saw a 30% pay deduction for three months starting in April 2024, with two other full-time directors seeing a 15% pay deduction for the same period.