{"id":69339,"date":"2026-07-08T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=69339"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:35:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T08:35:57","slug":"former-gungho-employee-arrested-after-allegedly-issuing-fake-work-orders-to-himself-to-siphon-company-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-gungho-employee-arrested-after-allegedly-issuing-fake-work-orders-to-himself-to-siphon-company-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"Former\u00a0GungHo\u00a0employee\u00a0arrested after allegedly issuing fake work orders to himself\u00a0to siphon company funds\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>GungHo&nbsp;Online Entertainment<\/strong>, known as the developer of Puzzle &amp; Dragons and&nbsp;global publisher of Nihon&nbsp;Falcom\u2019s&nbsp;Trails in the Sky remake series \u2013&nbsp;has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ssl4.eir-parts.net\/doc\/3765\/tdnet\/2848914\/00.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a>&nbsp;that an employee it had&nbsp;previously&nbsp;fired over&nbsp;misconduct has been arrested.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As reported by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sankei.com\/article\/20260708-ZWQEROWE35MCVNMCGJO32ZO72E\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Sankei Shimbun,<\/a>&nbsp;Japanese police arrested&nbsp;Takanori Kikuchi,&nbsp;the former general manager of&nbsp;GungHo\u2019s&nbsp;systems division,&nbsp;on July 8&nbsp;on suspicion of&nbsp;breach of trust.&nbsp;Kikuchi&nbsp;is accused&nbsp;of causing the company financial losses by placing fictitious work orders&nbsp;to&nbsp;himself.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the police,&nbsp;he&nbsp;allegedly created&nbsp;an account&nbsp;under a false name on an online crowdsourcing platform, posing as a sole proprietor, and then placed fictitious work orders&nbsp;in&nbsp;GungHo\u2019s&nbsp;name,&nbsp;such as requests to &#8220;inspect product defects.&#8221;&nbsp;Between January and December 2022,&nbsp;he&nbsp;reportedly had&nbsp;the company transfer around 40 million yen in cash (around $246 thousand USD) across 12 transactions,&nbsp;disguised as outsourcing fees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While this arrest involves only allegations related to acts committed in 2022, the police believe Kikuchi had been embezzling company funds using similar methods from 2017 to 2025.&nbsp;GungHo\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-game-company-executive-embezzles-2-35-million-by-sending-fake-outsourcing-job-orders-to-themselves\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">internal investigation from&nbsp;back in&nbsp;August 2025<\/a>&nbsp;suggested that losses it suffered&nbsp;from Kikuchi\u2019s alleged misconduct&nbsp;totaled&nbsp;approximately&nbsp;&nbsp;346&nbsp;million yen or&nbsp;$2.35 million&nbsp;USD. This led to the employee being&nbsp;dismissed&nbsp;and&nbsp;GungHo\u2019s&nbsp;CEO and executives&nbsp;accepting pay&nbsp;reduction&nbsp;for three months&nbsp;to take responsibility.&nbsp;&nbsp;Following the arrest, Kikuchi has&nbsp;admitted to&nbsp;the allegations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-bandai-namco-employee-arrested-for-embezzling-3-38-million-at-overseas-subsidiary-executives-penalized-for-oversight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Former Bandai Namco employee arrested for embezzling $3.38 million at overseas subsidiary. Executives penalized for oversight<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The employee, a former systems chief, transferred around 40 million yen in cash just in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":69342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-07-08T12:00:09+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mq52zw7xeg2v","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mq52zw7xeg2v\",\"cid\":\"bafyreifcmetiblgwitbca5r4iban3ofneopc5n44qsorrcudi24i7esigq\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreiafuhdlrgevgu2ivryz4hw6hlpwn4rcmpojzpx5cxb6h4w537kvii\",\"rev\":\"3mq52zwa3bg2v\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-69339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - 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