Yuji Naka, the creator behind the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, has been arrested again in Japan, this time over an alleged insider trading scheme related to Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier.
As reported by Asahi, both Naka-san and former Square Enix employee Taisuke Sazaki were detained by authorities for allegedly investing in ATeam Entertainment based on non-public knowledge of the publisher’s plans to work with the company on the Final Fantasy mobile title.
The report claims that Naka, who left Square Enix after the critical and commercial failure of Balan Wonderworld, was made aware of the company’s plans to produce Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier with ATeam ahead of its official reveal. He then reportedly purchased around 120,000 shares in the company for 144.7 million yen.
As previously reported, Naka had already been arrested after being allegedly involved in insider trading scheme pertaining to Dragon Quest Tact on mobile.