Former GungHo Executive Takanori Kikuchi Arrested for Alleged Embezzlement
The arrest of a former systems division head at a major game company, who admitted to embezzling over a million dollars, caps a case GungHo kept confidential for months and follows a change in top leadership.
Reporting from 1 source: Anime News Network.
Takanori Kikuchi, a former executive at GungHo Online Entertainment, was arrested by Tokyo police on suspicion of breach of trust for allegedly embezzling about 246 million yen through fictitious business orders. He has admitted to the charges. GungHo had filed criminal charges in October 2025 but kept the matter quiet during the investigation.
Takanori Kikuchi, a former executive at GungHo Online Entertainment, was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police on suspicion of breach of trust. He is accused of embezzling about 246 million yen (roughly US$1.675 million) by creating fake business orders to himself through a third-party work-matching service over several years, and has admitted to the charges. GungHo filed criminal charges against Kikuchi on October 5, 2025, but did not announce the matter publicly to avoid interfering with the police investigation. The company had already dismissed the employee in July 2025. GungHo's CEO Kazuki Morishita stepped down on February 1, with CFO Kazuya Sakai taking over as the new CEO, President, and Representative Director.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.