Chinese gaming company NetEase under fire over alleged money laundering by senior execs

Multiple employees at Chinese gaming company NetEsports including two senior execs have allegedly been arrested over charges of bribery and money laundering. The execs in talks here are Xiang Lang and Jin Yuchen, who are seemingly removed from the company.

Xiang Lang served as the General Manager in charge of marketing, while Jin Yuchen was head of esports. The report comes from a Chinese outlet Leifeng, revealing that the estimated value in talk here is 1 billion yuan or around $139 million and 28 companies have been affected due their to involvement.

Further investigation on these two execs revealed the involvement of more staff, but the names haven’t been disclosed. As per Leifeng, both have been removed from the internal system of NetEase Games and presumably fired.

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Fans worried about upcoming games from NetEase

NetEase is one of the largest gaming companies in China which is generally known for making mobile games and ports, but also delves into PC games. Their most recent projects are Destiny: Rising, a mobile game set in Bungie’s Destiny franchise, and Marvel Rivals, a direct competitor to over-watch, set to release next year.

Both games have received praise from those who tested them during the beta. However, with the company wrapped up in the anti-corruption which is still ongoing, fans are worried that it will affect the release of these games. There is currently no official statement from NetEase regarding the incident.

The incident is reported as the second major anti-corruption who have investigation organized by NetEase. Following this incident, several employees reported that instead of screensavers, their computers displayed compliance protocols.

“Select suppliers fairly, purchase in accordance with laws and regulations, ensure the procurement process is transparent, do not disclose business secrets, reduce costs and increase efficiency quickly, efficiently and economically, and separation of duties is incompatible,” the guideline read as per Leifeng.