Ex-Bandai Namco employee embezzled $4.6 million by selling the company’s mobile devices

Bandai Namco Holdings announced that its subsidiary Bandai Namco Entertainment has filed a civil lawsuit against a former employee who committed a fraudulent act.

The company discovered that from around April 2015 to around April 2022, the former employee had sold over 4,400 mobile devices that were under the former employee’s management without the company’s permission, embezzling approximately 600 million yen (around $4.6 million) in the process. Bandai Namco Entertainment is seeking approximately 600 million yen in damages through this lawsuit.

Below is an excerpt from Bandai Namco Holding’s press release:

Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. hereby announces that there has been a fraudulent act (the “Fraudulent Act”) by a former employee (the “Former Employee”) of our subsidiary Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Yasuo Miyakawa) (the “Relevant Company”), and the Relevant Company filed civil proceedings in the Tokyo District Court on January 18, 2023, seeking approximately 600 million yen in damages, as well as making other claims, against the Former Employee.

Our group takes the occurrence of this kind of incident seriously, and sincerely apologizes for the great inconvenience and concerns it has caused to our customers, shareholders, and all other concerned parties.

1. Overview of the Fraudulent Acts

In November 2021, it was discovered that there was a discrepancy between the number of mobile devices, such as smartphones registered in the Relevant Companyʼs management system and the number of mobile devices actually in use, and the Relevant Company conducted an investigation. Thereafter, in April 2022, a further investigation was conducted since the Former Employee was suspected of being involved.

As a result, it was discovered that, from around April 2015 to around April 2022, the Former Employee had sold more than 4,400 of the mobile devices under the Former Employeeʼs management to outside companies without the Relevant Companyʼs permission, and embezzled approximately 600 million yen from the sale of these devices.

In regard to this matter, in addition to filing civil proceedings, we are considering filing criminal proceedings in the future. Our group will fully cooperate with any and all investigations by the relevant authorities.

Written by. Marco Farinaccia based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-01-18 17:55 JST)