Former Sonic Team head Yuji Naka allegedly arrested for involvement with Square Enix legal scandal

Another link in Square Enix’s chain has reportedly been arrested after two other employees were already charged with purchasing $336,000 worth of Aiming stock. 

Yuji Naka, the former head of the Sega Studio Sonic team, is now the third person to be arrested, according to reports by FNN Prime Online.

Naka worked for Square Enix from 2018 to 2021, and now currently works for Prope, a Japanese game company where he is the only member. He was one of the founders of the Sonic Team, leading to the incredibly profitable Sonic franchise. Naka was one of the key instruments in Sonic’s success as a game, mainly responsible for its creation.

The three were arrested due to suspected insider trading relating to the recent reveal of the new Dragon Quest title. 

Naka allegedly bought roughly 10,000 Aiming shares worth around the $20,000 mark. He reportedly learned about the game’s development during his tenure at Square Enix towards the end of Jan. 2020.

The former Sega and Square Enix employee was arrested under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act for alleged insider trading. 

During his time at Square Enix, Naka also gathered information relating to the new “Dragon Quest Tact” title for smartphones.

The other two alleged insider traders, Taisuke Sasaki and Fumiaki Suzuki, bought 162,000 Aiming shares suspiciously before the announcement of the Dragon Quest mobile game’s Dec. 9, 2022 release date was revealed.

Sasaki was a former Square Enix employee, while Suzuki was a mere acquaintance. Square Enix previously released multiple statements regarding the first two members involved. The company ensured it would work with the authorities in order to investigate the chance and the occurrence of any further instance of insider trading.

“We have been fully cooperating with requests from the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission. As the investigation by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office is underway, we will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation,” it stated.

There is no clear information regarding the sale of their stock, and we’ll provide updates as we find out more regarding Yuji Naka and the other two in question.