As if getting caught once wasn’t bad enough, Yuji Naka, the former head of Sega’s Sonic Team studio was reportedly re-arrested for a second instance of insider trading that took place while he was employed by Square Enix between 2018 to 2021.
Initially, the former Sega legend and two other employees were arrested after allegedly engaging in insider trading through the purchase of more than $336,300 of stock in Aiming—the developer behind Dragon Quest Tact and other Square mobile games—ahead of DQ Tact information being disclosed publicly. That arrest was the result of a larger investigation hosted by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office at the time.
Naka and Taisuke Sazaki have now reportedly been re-arrested by authorities once again for employing similar tactics, this time in the Final Fantasy franchise.
According to a new report from Asahi, first spotted by VGC today, Naka and Sazaki purchased around 120,000 shares for 144.7 million yen or roughly $834,000 of Japanese developer ATeam Entertainment—the team that would eventually be revealed as working on mobile battle-royale title Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. Naka alone was alleged to have 10,000 shares of Aiming stock for around $20,000 based on the initial investigation.
Both parties are now accused of using non-disclosed internal information provided to them as developers at Square to purchase these stocks ahead of the 2021 mobile title, which is ceasing operations on Jan. 11, 2023, ahead of it being fully revealed.
Naka exited Square in mid-2021 following the poorly received launch of his Balan Wonderworld title. Not long after that he also sued Square for actions taken against him during the late development cycle of that title that he claims led to its unfinished state and the lack of care given to it ahead of launch.
There is a chance this isn’t the end of this saga either, as both Naka and Sazaki may have been involved in other instances of insider trading during this period of infractions—which should now be under even heavier scrutiny after this second flag was raised.
