Something is rotten in the state of Factor 5.

A few months back San-Rafael-based Factor 5 (the studio behind the popular Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series) was declared bankrupt with between $1 million to $10 million in unpaid debts. In addition to this, the company was also faced with 69 claims for unpaid wages totaling more than $900,000. As you can imagine, much wailing and gnashing of teeth followed.

However, that's not the end of this sorry tale. Former employees are taking Factor 5's founders to court, accusing them of transferring company assets to a new company called Blue Harvest (Star Wars fans will be aware of the link there) to avoid paying debtors during the liquidation process. Those assets apparently include a new Rogue Squadron game for the Wii.

James Smith, a lawyer representing the employees, had this to say:

We allege in the suit that Factor 5 and its three founders fraudulently transferred assets, including source code and other intellectual property to Blue Harvest, which is now known as White Harvest. We believe and have alleged in the complaint that Factor 5 and White Harvest are essentially the same company, being run by the same people, being represented by the same sets of lawyers, with all the same management and ownership and control, performing all the same work that they were doing at Factor 5, just now with a new name and a new address.

[source wii.ign.com]