Update: The executive is now named as Sebastian Ahlskog, former CFO of Starbeeze.

According to the Swedish Economic Crime Authority and GamesIndustry.biz, he was fined 40,000 Swedish kroner (¥3,162/$4,121.28) and 700,000 Swedish kroner (55,338.50 pounds/72,121.40) of assets were recovered.

Original text An unnamed executive at Payday's publisher, Starbreeze, was convicted of insider trading.

Starbreeze suffered major financial difficulties in late 2018 following the disastrous launch of Overkill's The Walking Dead. The game was heavily criticized at launch, and as a result, The Walking Dead owner Skybound Entertainment terminated Starbreeze's contract with Overkill, forcing the game to cease sales just four months later. Shortly after the launch of The Walking Dead, Starbreeze CEO Bo Anderson stepped down.

Following this, Starbreeze announced that it was restructuring the company and would refocus its efforts on its most popular series, Payday. Before the restructuring was announced, allegations surfaced that two executives, including Andersson, had sold shares in the company, leading to a raid and insider trading investigation by Swedish police.

Andersson was later found to have been forced to sell the shares in January 2019 and was cleared. A second person, however, was convicted and fined. According to Sweden's Dagens Industry newspaper, the combined value of the fine and the assets recovered amounts to approximately 700,000 kroner, or £58,121.

Starbreeze continues to struggle: in June 2019, a quarter of its staff was laid off as it desperately tried to stay afloat, and in its year-end financial report it admitted a loss of $12 million; Overkill is meanwhile back to updating "Payday 2", Starbreeze is looking for a publishing partner for "Payday 3," which is still in development.