According to Fuji News Network, the renowned co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, Yuji Naka, has been detained in Japan in connection with an insider trading case involving former Square Enix workers.
Taisuke Sazaki, a former employee of Square Enix, acquired knowledge that the Dragon Quest Tact mobile game was being developed in collaboration between Square Enix and Aiming. Sazaki and another former Square Enix employee, Fumiaki Suzuki, allegedly purchased 162,000 shares of Aiming for roughly 47.2 million yen (around $336,760) between December 2019 and February 2020, before the project’s public launch on February 5, 2020.
Before its public announcement, Naka allegedly knew of the Aiming sale and purchased 10,000 shares for around 2.8 million yen (almost $20,000). Between 2018 to 2021, Naka collaborated with Square Enix on the Balan Wonderworld video game. Now, all three men have been arrested on charges of insider trading.
Following the arrests, Square Enix issued an official statement stating, “We have been fully cooperating with requests from the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission … We deeply regret the great concern this has caused to all concerned. We have dealt with this incident strictly, including internal disciplinary actions taken against the suspected employees.”