Sonic co-creator arrested a second time for much more insider buying and selling shenanigans

Sonic co-creator and Balan Wonderworld director Yuji Naka has been arrested a second time for alleged insider buying and selling, mere weeks after his preliminary apprehension.

Naka was initially arrested in mid-November alongside two Sq. Enix workers, Fumiaki Suzuki and Taisuke Sazaki. The three had been accused of shopping for shares in developer Aiming Inc. earlier than its collaboration with Sq. Enix for the cell game Dragon Quest Tact was introduced. Naka allegedly bought round 10,000 shares price roughly 2.8 million yen (approx $20,000 USD), although it was unknown if he had taken benefit of the announcement to promote them off.

Now, Naka is being accused of insider buying and selling for a unique Sq. Enix game. As reported by Asahi and VGC, the developer has been re-arrested alongside Sazaki for alleged confidential data of fellow cell game Ultimate Fantasy 7: The First Soldier. Just like the Dragon Quest Tact scenario, Naka was allegedly conscious of Sq. Enix’s plans to collaborate with developer ATeam earlier than the announcement was made. He’s mentioned to have bought round 120,000 shares within the cell studio for about 144.7 million yen (approx $1 million USD). Sazaki is reported to have bought 91,000 shares for 105 million yen. The Asahi report additionally claims {that a} third unnamed get together was made conscious of the collaboration, who then bought round 10,000 shares for 11.8 million yen.

When Naka, Suzuki and Sazaki had been first arrested, Sq. Enix launched a public assertion on the matter. The developer mentioned it might “totally cooperate with the investigation to make clear the info,” including it was “taking disciplinary motion in opposition to the previous workers.” It’s but to touch upon the follow-up arrests.