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Konami Reportedly Blacklisting Ex-Employees Across Japanese Video Game Industry (arstechnica.com)
The Nikkei Asian Review newspaper is reporting that the Japanese entertainment company Konami is blacklisting former employees in the Japanese video game industry. "The company is particularly targeting those who work for Kojima Productions, which was founded in 2016 by Hideo Kojima, who used to be a top designer at Konami," reports Ars Technica. From the report: Furthermore, according to the article, Konami is pressuring other companies not to hire its former employees. As the Nikkei Asian Review wrote: "One ex-Kon described his surprise at learning that Konami had instructed an employee at a television company not to deal with its former employees. In another case, a former Konami executive was forced to close his business due to pressure from the gaming giant. Ex-Kons are not allowed to put their Konami experience on their public resumes. 'If you leave the company, you cannot rely on Konami's name to land a job,' explained a former employee. If an ex-Kon is interviewed by the media, the company will send that person a letter through a legal representative, in some cases indicating that Konami is willing to take them to court."
It's not illegal to give a bad reference if it's true. But it does open you up to lawsuits for slander etc. That's why a lot of big companies as a policy don't give references nowadays because they don't want to be sued.
You can't really be charged criminally for giving a truthful reference but you can be sued for libel. Basically if you can't praise someone don't give them a reference at all unless you hate the ex employee enough you don't mind going broke and making that person rich over it.