Yuji Naka arrested again on suspicion of insider trading; this time in relation to a Final Fantasy game

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office announced that it has rearrested former Square Enix employees Yuji Naka and Taisuke Sazaki on suspicion of insider trading.

Both suspects were previously arrested in November on suspicion of insider trading related to a new mobile game in the Dragon Quest series. This new arrest is for a separate incident.

During the previous incident, Naka had purchased stock worth around 2.8 million yen (around $20,000), but in this new case, he is suspected of making a significantly larger purchase that totals approximately 140 million yen (around $1 million).

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Kyodo News and Nippon TV News report that Naka is suspected of purchasing 120,000 shares in game developer Ateam worth approximately 140 million yen between late January and late February 2021. The purchase was said to have been made based on unreleased information regarding a mobile game that was being jointly developed by Ateam and Square Enix. Sazaki is suspected of making a purchase worth approximately 100 million yen (around $700,000).  

Square Enix and Ateam have worked together on the mobile game Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier, a battle royale game based on the popular Final Fantasy VII IP. The value of Ateam’s stocks rose sharply at the time it was first announced (Kaisha Shikiho Online).

Based on information obtained from people involved, Nippon TV News reported that the unreleased information used in the insider trading allegations was, in fact, related to Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier.

Written by. Marco Farinaccia based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-12-07 18:35 JST)