Tokyo police arrested a 59-year-old former employee of Bandai Namco Entertainment on Tuesday on suspicion of embezzling ¥54 million ($345,300) in company assets.
Police said Yoichi Toyosumi of Machida city in western Tokyo allegedly sold about 500 company-owned smartphones and other items without permission to a Tokyo-based secondhand store on 30 occasions in 2020.
According to police, he has confessed to the crimes, acknowledging, "There's no doubt about it."
During his tenure, Toyosumi was solely responsible for the procurement, distribution and management of mobile devices used in the development of game software, according to investigators.
Police believe he had illicitly sold roughly 4,000 mobile devices between 2015 and 2022, potentially embezzling a total of around ¥400 million, including the ¥54 million he has been arrested for.
Toyosumi reportedly used the proceeds from his illicit sales to fund his personal expenses, including visits to entertainment establishments such as girls bars.
Bandai Namco Holdings, the parent company of the video game publisher, said the alleged fraud came to light in November 2021 when discrepancies were found in the number of handsets registered in the company’s system and the number of devices in actual usage.
Following these discoveries, Toyosumi was terminated from his position in December 2022 and criminal charges were filed against him in December 2023.
A spokesperson from Bandai Namco said, "We are fully cooperating with the police investigation and are committed to strengthening our internal controls to prevent such incidents in the future."