Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka fined $1.2 million and sentenced to a suspended prison term for insider trading

Sonic's co-author Yuji Naka was found guilty of insider trading, but will not be imprisoned for the time being. According to the Japanese news agency Jiji Press, the Tokyo District Court found Naka guilty of violating Japan's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act by buying shares based on inside information.

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The judge imposed a 30-month suspended sentence, suspended for four years. This means that he will avoid imprisonment if he complies with the conditions set by the court and does not break the law during this period. Naka also received two fines totalling ¥173 million (approximately $1.2 million). Naka pleaded not guilty.

Following his arrest in November 2022, it was revealed that Naka, who was working on the game Balan Wonderworld for Square Enix at the time, had learned about the development of a new Dragon Quest mobile game called Dragon Quest Tact from Japanese developer Aiming before it was officially announced. Using this information, he purchased about 10,000 shares for a total of $20,000 with the intention of selling them when the game was announced and the value of the shares increased.

Source: VGC