Yuji Naka, co-creator of Sonic and director of Balan Wonderworld, was found guilty of insider trading, and the Tokyo District Court sentenced him to a massive $1.2 million fine and two and a half years in prison (suspended for four years).

This is not far off from the punishment the prosecutors were targeting early last month. The only exception is the suspended four-year sentence, during which defendant Naka will be spared jail time as long as he does not violate the court's conditions or violate any laws, according to a summary translated by SEGAbits, despite the fact that Naka has allegedly shown "remorse," and the prosecution claims that he has. The sentence was suspended, despite the prosecution's insistence that he had shown "remorse. However, there was no significant change in the fine, and according to Japan's Jiji Press, in addition to the 2 million yen (roughly $14,000) fine, he was fined an additional 171 million yen (roughly $1.2 million).

Mr. Naka was originally arrested on suspicion of insider trading along with two other employees in November 2022 while at Square Enix. He was accused of purchasing shares in Aiming Imc. before collaborating with Square Enix on the mobile game Dragon Quest Tact, and was arrested again a month later for the exact same thing, except this time for Final Fantasy 7: First Soldier and developer ATeam

The developer was charged with "buying the shares of the company's stock.

At his first trial in March of this year, the developer fully pleaded guilty, stating, "There is no doubt that I knew about the game before it went public and purchased stock in it. Naka will pay a fine and be suspended until 2027.