Nine NetEase Games employees allegedly arrested for money laundering and bribery

• NetEase Games employees including Xiang Lang are allegedly detained under suspicion of money laundering and bribery
• Nine employees are alleged to be in detention

Several NetEase Games employees from the Marvel Rivals and Destiny: Rising team have reportedly been arrested on money laundering and bribery charges.

A number of “high-ranking” staff are said to be under investigation, including general manager Xiang Lang.

Leifeng.com heard from “multiple sources” that Lang was “taken away by NetEase’s internal anti-corruption department for investigation”.

Nine alleged arrests

In order to detain suspected employees, NetEase reportedly “lured the enemy into a trap” by holding a meeting in Hangzhou, China, instead of their usual meeting location, Guangzhou, leading to Lang and others’ detention in Hangzhou for further investigation.

The other employees detained are reportedly among Lang’s “channel centre”, allegedly responsible for purchasing traffic for many top NetEase products. Most of them are no longer listed in NetEase internal system, indicating they have been let go from the company.

Bloomberg reported that NetEase esports lead Jin Yuchen was among those arrested, one of nine employees who had been detained last week. Meanwhile, 27 external companies have been blacklisted on the basis of supposed connections to the misconduct.

The contract value involved is estimated at ¥2 billion ($277.6 million) while the actual amount involved amounts to anywhere between ¥800 million ($111 million) and ¥1 billion ($138.8 million).

The scandal has attracted some attention online and is reportedly NetEase’s second anti-corruption move in just over a year. Among the online comments, Chinese entrepreneur and game developer Wenfeng Yang posted on LinkedIn:

“This recent action by NetEase serves as a reminder that integrity is the fundamental value in both personal conduct and corporate culture. If this foundation is lacking, it’s wise to walk away – otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before consequences catch up.”