The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the six HTC employees arrested in August for allegedly leaking company secrets, taking kickbacks, and falsifying expenses have now been indicted by prosecutors in Taiwan.

Among the six is HTC Vice President of Design Thomas Chien, who is being charged with leaking an unreleased "smartphone interface design." Prosecutors allege Chien's plan was to start a new company with the individuals to whom he allegedly leaked the design in Beijing. Chien and five other HTC employees are also being charged with breach of trust for allegedly taking bribes from suppliers and falsifying $1.12 million in expense reports. Three people from the unidentified suppliers were also charged. Each charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison in Taiwan.

While we found the HTC One to be a great piece of hardware, HTC as a company is beginning to look more and more like a sinking ship with all of the high-level departures. Executives have been leaving the company in droves, with the CEO of HTC Asia, chief operating officer, chief product officer, global retail marketing manager, director of digital marketing, and product strategy manager all departing in 2013. HTC has also had to deal with the retail flop of its high-profile HTC First, AKA "The Facebook Phone." The company's profits have been tumbling for some time, and it posted its first quarterly loss in October.

HTC still has flagship products in the works, in spite of the shake-ups—we've started to hear rumblings of an "HTC One 2." However, as Forbes points out in that link, the key to HTC's survival likely is centered around its successes or failures in the Chinese market, not the North American one. A new flagship model isn't necessarily what the company needs right now in a market already crowded with flagships.