Yuji Naka is convicted of financial crimes and will have to pay fines totaling US$ 1.2 million

Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka was convicted of financial crimes he committed while working at Square Enix and will face two fines that add up to $1.2 million.

In addition, he was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, with a four-year probation period. This means he will not need to go to prison as long as he meets the conditions set out by the order and does not break any other laws during that time.

Naka had pleaded guilty to the charges in March, saying there was “no doubt” that he had participated in an Insider Trading scheme, which involves using insider information to gain profit and advantage in the market.

He was first arrested in November 2022, with the claim that when he was at Square Enix, he discovered that developer Aiming was working on a new mobile game called Dragon Quest Tact, before it was announced.

Knowing this, he bought about 10,000 shares of Aiming for approximately $20,000, intending to sell them when the game was announced and the value of Aiming’s shares rose.

Via VGC