Sonic the Hedgehog Co-Creator Yuji Naka was arrested twice for insider trading (once in November and once in December). And now, the Balan Wonderworld director has been indicted for said alleged crimes.
As picked up by Video Games Chronicle, Japanese outlet NHK reported that the formal indictment had taken place. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has determined that Naka had inside information that Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier was in development at ATeam Entertainment. And knowing this, he reportedly bought ¥144.7 million yen (around $834,000) of stock in the developer. Naka was also alleged to have pulled a similar scheme with Dragon Quest Tact and developer Aiming where he is said to have purchased ¥2.8 million (around $20,000) in stock.
Taisuke Sasaki, who also worked at Square Enix, was also accused of similar crimes. It is currently unknown the two will stand trial. Nothing was said about Fumiaki Suzuki who was also arrested for insider trading in November.