GungHo Online Entertainment, the studio behind Puzzle & Dragons and the worldwide publisher of Nihon Falcom’s Trails in the Sky remake series, has revealed that a former employee, previously let go due to misconduct, has been taken into custody.
According to reports from The Sankei Shimbun, Japanese authorities apprehended Takanori Kikuchi, a former general manager of GungHo’s systems division, on July 8 under suspicion of breach of trust. Kikuchi is charged with inflicting financial harm on the company by issuing fake work orders in his own name.
Authorities state that he allegedly established an account under a pseudonym on an online crowdsourcing platform, masquerading as an independent contractor, and subsequently submitted fabricated work orders on GungHo’s behalf, including tasks like “inspect product defects.” Between January and December 2022, he reportedly orchestrated 12 transactions, resulting in the company transferring approximately 40 million yen in cash (about $246 thousand USD), which was disguised as payment for external services.
Although this arrest pertains only to allegations stemming from 2022, law enforcement suspects Kikuchi had been misappropriating company funds using comparable tactics from 2017 to 2025. GungHo’s internal probe conducted in August 2025 indicated that the losses attributed to Kikuchi’s alleged actions amounted to roughly 346 million yen or $2.35 million USD. This discovery led to the employee’s termination and GungHo’s CEO and leadership team agreeing to a three-month pay cut to assume responsibility. Since his arrest, Kikuchi has reportedly confessed to the accusations.