Sensory Sweep, the Utah developer that is the subject of a $2 million unpaid-wages federal investigation, denies some allegations levied against it and says they are working out an agreement with investigators.
Chris Rushton, a company vice president, tells us:
Sensory Sweep has undergone some significant hardships since Brash Entertainment went out of business. We dispute some of the factual claims listed on-line regarding our business situation. We are working out an agreement with the Department of Labor. We are very grateful to our employees who have been working so hard alongside us to get through these troubled times.
Sensory Sweep had been working on Tales of Despereaux for Brash until that publisher went belly up back in November. The title was later published by Atari. Sensory Sweep's other products have included Jackass: The Game for the DS and Alvin and the Chipmunks for the Wii, DS, PC and PS2.
Yesterday, Kotaku reported that the federal government has been investigating Sensory Sweep since October over allegations of unpaid wages, both regular and overtime. The Labor Department investigation determined that the studio owed current and former employees $2,018,437.30. That would make this the largest unpaid wages case in the history of the state of Utah.
A hearing on an injunction is scheduled for tomorrow in U.S. District Court before Judge Dee Benson. The Labor Department wants to stop Sensory Sweep from shipping any finished products to publishers.