Abema Times (via VGC) reports that prosecutors in the Tokyo District Court are seeking heavy penalties against Yuji Naka, the creator of Sonic and Balan Wonderworld. They are seeking two and a half years in prison, a fine of 2.5 million yen (about $18,000/£14,000), and an "additional fine" of 170 million yen (about $1.2 million/£975,000). Prosecutors accuse the game designer of "showing no remorse" for his actions.

The prosecution's push comes just three months after Naka pleaded guilty to insider trading at his first trial in March of this year. Naka was accused of using inside knowledge gained from his position at Square Enix to buy shares of Ateam and Aiming Inc. before their partnerships with Square Enix ("Final Fantasy 7: First Soldier" and "Dragon Quest Tact," respectively) were publicly announced. Aiming Inc. When the partnership was announced, Naka's stock soared, reportedly netting the creators about $146,000.

Naka later tried to pin part of the blame on an administrative error, claiming that he had access to information that enabled insider trading because he mistakenly sent information he was not supposed to see.

This was not a defense, since Mr. Naka did not deny that he bought shares based on that information, but his lawyers apparently hoped to obtain a more lenient sentence by having the insider trading be a product of circumstances rather than any deep planning on Mr. Naka's part.

Whether it worked or not will be known when the court makes its final ruling on July 7. The designers' lawyers are seeking to have the prosecution's preferred prison sentence converted to a suspended sentence, meaning that Naka will not have to actually go to jail unless he violates the conditions set by the court, and to have the eye-popping fine reduced.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article reported that defendant Naka had already been sentenced. This has been corrected.