Yuji Naka Has Been Arrested For Insider Trading

Yuji Naka

Apparently the police did not like Balan Wonderworld.

Yes, it seems to be true. Yuji Naka (57), known for his longtime involvement with the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, has been arrested for insider trading.

According to FNN, which goes into more detail, Naka bought stock in the studio Aiming, which is currently working on a new Dragon Quest title, while he was still at Square Enix in 2020. Since Dragon Quest always sells ridiculous amounts, he stood to earn quite a bit from this, as Aiming’s profile would rise astronomically. The game in question seems to be the mobile game Dragon Quest Tact.

Naka allegedly bought 10,000 shares of Aiming for ~¥2.8 million ahead of the announcement of the studio’s involvement. This opened him up to being arrested under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.

Naka was not alone in this, however; Taisuke Sasaki (38), a former employee of Square Enix, and Fumiaki Suzuki (40), an acquaintance, were also arrested for doing much the same. Reportedly, they bought 162,000 shares of Aiming for about ¥47.2 million. It’s unknown if any of the 3 men sold off their shares post-announcement.

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Naturally, despite being in the midst of a meltdown, a few people on Twitter found this a bit too good to pass up.

Yuji Naka
Source: @shinimomi
It’s literally City Escape.
https://twitter.com/SNick_WT/status/1593462138168918019
Yuji Naka
Source: @SNick_WT

So yeah, it was a heck of a day.

Source: FNN

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B. Simmons

Based out of Glendale California, Bryan is a GAMbIT's resident gaming contributor. Specializing in PC and portable gaming, you can find Bryan on his 3DS playing Monster Hunter or at one of the various conventions throughout the state.

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