#Prosecutors Push for Sonic the Hedgehog Co-Creator Yuji Naka to Get Over 2 Years Jail Time for Insider Trading

Image via TBS News via Yuji Naka on Twitter

The trial of Yuji Naka is currently underway at the Tokyo District Court and is no Green Hills Zone for the Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator with prosecutors looking for a two years and six months jail sentence for the former Square Enix employee. Naka has been charged by the special investigation unit for violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act for suspected insider trading. 

Along with the two years and six months jail sentence, prosecutors are pushing to fine the game director 2.5 million yen (US$18,000) with a penalty of 170 million yen (US$1.22 million) on top. The defense for Naka is pushing for a suspended sentence and a reduction in fines, saying Naka had “information that was extremely unrelated to my duties was mistakenly sent to me and I had happened to see it” and apologizing for “undermining the fairness, soundness and credibility of the market.”

In the prosecutor’s opening statement, they claim that Naka “showed no remorse” for his actions where he “gained illicit profits from a significantly more advantageous position than general investors and undermined the fairness of the market. The crime was based on strong, malicious criminal intent.” The final verdict is scheduled to be handed down on July 7.

RELATED: Sonic the Hedgehog Co-Creator Yuji Naka Arrested Again for Alleged Final Fantasy Insider Trading

Naka has been charged for two occasions with violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, once with DRAGON QUEST TACT and another with Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier.

Yuji Naka is said to have bought 10,000 shares of DRAGON QUEST TACT developer Aiming for about 2.8 million yen ahead of when information on the game and development was announced back in January 2020. 

The prosecutors also claim that Naka bought a total of 120,000 shares of Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier developer Ateam ahead of the announcement that the team would be working on the smartphone game for around 144.7 million yen. Prosecutors claim that Naka made hundreds of millions of yen in the deals.

Sources: ANNnewsCH on YouTube, TBS News

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Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.