One of the co-creators of Sonic the Hedgehog has been given a suspended prison sentence for insider trading

Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka has been given a suspended sentence and fines of around $1.2 million (or 173 million yen) after being found guilty of insider trading, According to a report from a Japanese news outlet GG (via ribbed). While the court issued a prison sentence of 2.5 years, GG stating that he has been suspended for four years.

This means that Naka shouldn’t end up behind bars anytime soon, as judges typically waive a prison sentence if the defendant doesn’t commit any additional crimes during that time period. Naka was arrested twice last year for his involvement in two separate insider trading incidents, both of which occurred in 2020 when Naka was working at Square Enix.

In the first case, Naka and two colleagues bought 162,000 shares valued at about $332,000 (47.2 million yen) in game development company Aiming before Square Enix told the public it was working with the studio on a mobile phone. Dragon adventure Game. The three men were arrested in November last year.

the other incident, Who arrested Naka for only a month after that, involves Naka and a fellow Square Enix employee who allegedly bought 120,000 shares worth more than $1 million (144.7 million yen) in another game studio with which the company planned to partner. The studio in question, Ateam, has collaborated with Square Enix on the mobile game Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. The judge’s ruling concerns both cases.

Naka joined Sega in 1983, where he helped create the iconic Sonic the Hedgehog character. After leaving Sega in 2006, Naka joined Square Enix to work on its poor reception Balan Wonderworld From 2018 to 2021. Naka says he was fired from the team six months before the game was released, and later sued the company.