Editing Studio Ironcat (section)

===Embezzlement and departure of co-founders===
From its inception until 1999, there were financial issues with Kimura.  A report by [[Industry (economics)|industry]] [[website]] [[Anime News Network]] (ANN) stated that a company employee reported multiple cases of [[fraud]] by Kimura, with the alleged cases of Ironcat funds being given to friends in [[Japan]], took unauthorized trips to [[Thailand]] and frequently used company finances for personal expenses.<ref name=ann161>{{cite news |first=Jonathan |last=Mays |url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature.php?id=161 |title=Inside Studio Ironcat |newspaper=[[Anime News Network]] |date=November 3, 2003 }}</ref>  The drain of funds was enough that the company ended up on shaky financial ground, and emptied Kanzaki (the primary financial backer)'s investment in the company.

During the post-Kimura [[Debt restructuring|restructuring]] by Kanzaki and the Bennetts, Office assistant Kathryn Hofer left in January 2000 due to lack of pay and bias treatment, Chief Graphics Designer and Copy Editor Mark Hofmann departed in June 2000, citing an issue with internal, "high-school" [[Office politics|company politics]] and lack of pay.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}} Hofer's and Hofman's grievances would later prove to be tragically prophetic, as later employee departures would cite the same problems.