Danica Davidson
July 11, 2023 
Game developer and director Yuji Naka of Sonic the Hedgehog has now officially been sentenced for insider trading. To be specific, he has been found guilty of breaking the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. On July 7, a Tokyo court gave him two and a half years in prison — as a suspended four year sentence — and a hefty fine and penalty. The suspended four year sentence means that if Naka behaves for four years, he will not spend any time behind bars.
Besides the sentencing, he has been fined two million yen. There are contradictory numbers in the Japanese news on how much the penalty amount is; Jiji Press says 171 million yen, but TBS says 170 million yen. Either way, that’s more than a million dollars in American money, and a lot more than the $146,600 he reportedly made in illegal activities.
Naka has confessed to the insider trading and apologized, saying he understood that his actions were “harming the fairness and credibility of the marketplace.” The prosecution argued that Naka is not remorseful and that he maliciously went after that money. Prosecutors wanted Naka put behind bars and to pay a hefty price, while the defense worked on getting Naka a suspended sentence and a lesser amount he had to pay.
Cornell Law School explains:
“Insider trading is the trading of a company’s securities by individuals with access to confidential or material non-public information about the company. Taking advantage of this privileged access is considered a breach of the individual’s fiduciary duty.”
Naka was arrested twice last year related to the insider trading accusations. It seemed that, based on insider information on the games Dragon Quest Tact and Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier, Naka chose to invest while knowing the general public did not have the knowledge he had.
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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