The creative would have used confidential information to fraudulently enrich himself.
Yuji Naka during his time at Square Enix
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Yuji Naka, one of the legendary SEGA creatives who brought Sonic to life, faces a sentence of 2 years in prison and a fine of more than 170 million yen (just over a million euros) for a use case of Square Enix Insider for which he would have fraudulently enriched himself in recent years. Naka pleaded guilty last March and could face these harsh sentences requested by the prosecution.
While Naka’s defense claims that he “accidentally saw information that had nothing to do with your job“(via Eurogamer), the Prosecutor’s Office points out that one of Sonic’s parents “showed no signs of remorse” when the fraud was exposed.
Sonic’s father would have enriched himself irregularly
Yuji Naka, who came to Square Enix in 2018 after cutting ties with SEGA, apart from developing the disastrous Balan Wonderworldwould have been enriched irregularly using Insider information on upcoming Square Enix releases. Naka was arrested twice in late 2022 after buying Aiming shares worth 2.8 million yen before the development of a Dragon Quest mobile video game by this Japanese developer was announced and later after buying ATeam shares worth 144.7 million yen before knowing his participation in Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier.
Yuji Naka pleaded guilty in March this year and could face jail time and a fine when the judge presiding over the case delivers his verdict next July 7th. What does seem to be clear is that the career of the creator of Sonic in the video game industry is over, while the blue hedgehog is preparing a new movie and more content for Sonic Frontiers.
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