SEGA says they aren't involved with Taxi Chaos in any way

Taxi Chaos is very clearly inspired by SEGA's Crazy Taxi franchise, but at one point in time, we heard that SEGA was actually involved with the title.

In the original press release for Taxi Chaos, SEGA was listed as the distributor for the Asian versions of the game. In a statement to Nintendo Life, SEGA says that information is flat-out false.

A game resembling SEGA’s Crazy Taxi is currently being promoted by an external company. As inaccurately reported in some news, this title and its publisher and developer have no official or unofficial support from SEGA CORPORATION and its international divisions. We are currently investigating this situation. SEGA places great value on our heritage and will ceaselessly protect our intellectual property. We are also continuously assessing all opportunities to remake/reimagine our universes and bring them to the public as innovative and high-quality experiences.

In the latest press release for Taxi Chaos, SEGA is no longer mentioned as a distributor. Were they actually involved at one time, or was it all just a mistake? If it was a mistake, how on earth did that happen in the first place?!