Several former employees of the Japanese video game company Square Enix have been arrested on suspicion of insider trading.
Former Square Enix employees Taisuke Sazaki and Fumiaki Suzuki were arrested on Thursday on suspicion of insider trading.
They are accused of buying shares in developer Aiming for the equivalent of $336,300 shortly before the official announcement of a new Dragon Quest game.
Like the Japanese news site FNN Prime Online reported, former Sonic Team boss and Sonic the Hedgehog programmer Yuji Naka has also been arrested in the same context.
Naka, who was then working on Balan Wonderworld for Square Enix, is also reported to have secured $20,000 in Dragon Age Tact Aiming stock just before the announcement.
The three developers are believed to have knowingly used inside information to later sell shares boosted by the game’s announcement.
Following the arrests of Sazaki and Suzuki, Square Enix confirmed that they were its former employees and said it would assist in the investigation:
“Today, some media outlets reported that former Square Enix employees are being investigated on suspicion of insider trading.”
“We have fully cooperated with the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission. As the investigation by the Tokyo District Procuratorate is ongoing, we will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation.”
“We deeply regret the great concern this has caused to all concerned. We are taking this incident very seriously, including internal disciplinary action against the suspected employees.”