Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka gets prison sentence for insider trading
Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka has been sentenced to prison for insider trading.
Naka pleaded guilty in March and has now been sentenced to serve two and a half years in jail. In addition, Naka has been fined twice for ¥2.5m and ¥170m (just under £1m total).
However, his defence is seeking a suspended sentence and to lower the fines, claiming Naka «accidentally saw information that was extremely unrelated to [his] work».
Prosecutors said Naka «showed no signs of remorse», as reported by Japanese site Abema Times (via VGC). A final judgement is expected on 7th July.
Naka was first arrested back in November 2022 following reports of alleged insider trading at Square Enix.
Naka moved to Square Enix from Sega in 2018 where he released his ill-fated platformer Balan Wonderworld.
There he purchased shares worth ¥2.8m in Aiming, a Japanese developer which Square Enix partnered with to make a Dragon Quest mobile game. This was done before Aiming's involvement was public knowledge.
He was then re-arrested in December 2022 for purchasing shares worth ¥144.7m in mobile developer ATeam before Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier was officially announced.
Later that month he was formally indicted for insider trading offences. In March this year, Naka admitted the charges.
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