Remember the guy who got caught for insider trading, Yuji Naka? He has been punished for his crimes and it is not looking good for him.
How Yuji Naka Got Here
For context, Yuji Naka is the co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog and worked with Balan Wonderworld which flopped badly. When he was working for Square Enix at that time, it was made aware that he knew that Japanese developer Aiming was working on a new Dragon Quest mobile game called Dragon Quest Tact before it was officially announced. He bought approximately 10,000 shares of Aiming stock for around 2.8 million yen with the intention of selling them once the game was announced and Aiming’s stock value had increased. He got arrested for that and pled guilty to the charges.
Naka was then arrested for the second time in December 2022 after he did it again, this time learning about confidential information that Square Enix was planning to make Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier with mobile developer ATeam Entertainment. He accessed a website that had info on new Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games and used that to buy 130,000 shares to earn a profit of over 20 million yen. He then got arrested for the second time and this time he got punished.
The Punishment
Today, Jiji Press has reported that the Tokyo District Court has ruled that Naka had violated Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Act by illegally buying shares based on inside information. He has been sentenced to 30 months in prison, suspended for four years. That meant he can get away with his prison term as long as he follows the conditions set by the order and will not infringe on any further terms or laws during this time. He has also been fined $1.2 million or 173 million yen.