Indonesian-based animation studio Brandonville Studios is under police investigation for inflicting physical and verbal abuse on its employees since it announced its closure on its Facebook page last month.
The company, which worked on high-profile games such as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Warcraft, employed around 80 staff members and is owned by husband-and-wife Chinese nationals Ken and Cherry Lai.
A whistle-blower by the name of Stevien Jimmy revealed screenshots of conversations between one of the co-owners, Cherry, and an employee.
It showed the unidentified employee reporting that “I have slapped myself 100x [times]” and is on her way to the office.
Cherry is seen questioning the employee “How to prove?” to which a picture was sent over.
Another screenshot also showed Cherry spewing expletives via messages while telling an alleged employee that she would like to be informed before anyone is allowed to call her.
The same employee was also asked by Cherry to “go do sit-ups for 10 minutes” and to have it recorded before allowing the former to drop her a call.
Is this an employer from hell? And to think their 80 employees stayed on despite the working conditions.
These new allegations come after a slew of workplace abuse were reported earlier this week.
Another former employee known as CS had taken to social media to describe numerous intimidation tactics and excessive work hours during her time at Brandoville Studios.
The 27-year-old claimed that she suffered a miscarriage due to the severe work conditions and instead of receiving the necessary support, alleges that Cheryl reprimanded her for not showing up to work, even directly abusing her physically.
“Once she punished me by ordering me to run up and down the stairs (five stories tall) within the time she set, every time I passed the time limit, I had to repeat the process,” CS revealed in an interview with an Indonesian daily.
“In total that night, I ran 45 times,” she added.
CS also claimed that she regularly worked 20-hour days till she was forced to rent a room near her office from January 2022 to October 2023.
“If I was even one minute late (for work), she would punish me,” said CS.
CS also recounted an incident where Cherry allegedly called her into the office on a Sunday after spitting vulgarities at her in a group chat.
According to Stevien, Cherry and Ken have allegedly started a new company under a different name, Lailai Studios.
A quick check showed the website had been taken down.
In a statement to the media, Indonesian police said a special team has been formed to investigate the allegations of abuse and exploitation.
The authorities have also confirmed that Cherry left Indonesia on August 29 though cannot confirm which country she is residing in at the moment.
They also said they are searching for former employees who were victims of alleged abuse to file reports.