Defending for punishment reduction, suspended sentence; The final verdict is expected on 7 July
Kodoani.com – The ABEMA Times news site reported on Thursday that the prosecutor in the insider trading case of game director and programmer Yuji Naka is asking Naka to spend 2.5 years in prison and pay a fine. 2.5 million yen in addition to a 170 million yen fine, for crimes totaling 172.5 million yen (about US$1.24 million).
The prosecutor stated in Tokyo district court on Thursday that Naka “has no sense of remorse” for the crime and “committed the crime with a clear malicious intent”.
On the other hand, the defense is pushing for a reduction of fines and a suspended sentence. Naka himself apologized, saying he was sorry for “damaging the fairness and reputation of the market.”
A final verdict is expected on July 7.
Naka admitted to the charges against him in violation of the Financial Instruments and Exchanges Act during his first trial at the Tokyo district court in March.
The prosecution said in an opening statement that Naka allegedly purchased 130,000 shares and earned 20 million yen (about $146,600) in profit after learning about new upcoming games in the series. ri Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy .
The Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Office first arrested Naka on November 18 on suspicion of insider trading. The arrest is related to the arrest of former Square Enix employee Taisuke Sasaki and his acquaintance Fumiaki Suzuki. Sasaki and Suzuki allegedly invested in the company on purpose after they learned that the company was developing the Dragon Quest Tact game in partnership with Square Enix.
The same prosecutor’s office arrested Naka a second time on December 7, on suspicion of insider trading or buying/selling stocks on the basis of non-public information. While at Square Enix, Naka allegedly invested in Ateam, the developer of the company’s Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier mobile game, before the game was announced. Former Square Enix employee Taisuke Sasaki was once again arrested for the same reason. They are suspected of having purchased about 120,000 shares of Ateam for about 144.7 million yen (about 1 million US dollars).
Naka joined Square Enix in January 2018 and resigned from the company at the end of April 2021. At the time, he stated that he could not explain the reason for his resignation, but would talk about it. publicly when the time comes. Naka revealed in April 2022 that he had filed a lawsuit against Square Enix for allegedly removing him from his position as director of the game Balan Wonderworld six months before the game’s launch.
Naka worked for 22 years at Sega. He is the former leader of the Sonic Team and the lead programmer on the original Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Sega Genesis. He also worked on games like Nights into Dreams and Phantasy Star Online while at Sega.
Naka is the president and CEO of game development company PROPE, which he founded in 2006 after leaving Sega. At PROPE, he worked on games like Fishing Resort, Buddy Monster, and Legend of Coin.
Via: Kodoani.com