Chinese law enforcement arrested two NetEase executives and nine employees from the company over alleged money laundering. According to reports, they laundered up to $139 million through contracts made with almost 30 business partners. [Thanks, Dexterto!]
This is an ongoing investigation, which means not a lot of information has been released just yet. We do know that NetEase fired the nine employees who were involved in this case. Some of them are no longer in custody, and one of them has taken to social media to plead their innocence. The police have arrested Xiang Liang, one of the executives, in order to investigate the allegations of money laundering and bribery within the company.
NetEase announced it launched an internal investigation as well, marking the second one since September 2023. Some employees have shared that their screenshots at work are the compliance advertisements that the company’s Procurement Compliance Committee put together. Zhang Yijia, who was a manager at Tencent, resigned after allegations of corruption as well, so these sorts of issues are not unique to NetEase.
NetEase is one of the bigger tech companies in China. Since its founding in 1997, it’s worked on games, advertisements, e-commerce, and e-mail services. Some of the games it worked on include Once Human, Marvel Rivals, and Identity V. It recently announced Where Winds Meet, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, and Project Mugen as well. That’s not even including the development studios it owns, such as Quantic Dream and Grasshopper Manufacture.
More information on the case will appear in the future as the investigation proceeds.
Published: Nov 11, 2024 01:00 pm