Yuji Naka, one of the co-creators of Sonic the Hedgehog, has been sentenced to over two years in prison.
The blue speedster aside, Yuji Naka also worked on a variety of games including the so-so Balan Wonderworld. That game didn’t set our world on fire, it’s true. But we’d never have guessed that, two years later, he’d plead guilty to insider trading.
We’re too serious a site to make jokes like “gotta appeal faster”, though Naka’s legal team is, as reported by VGC, looking to turn the two and a half years into a suspended sentence. They’re also trying to reduce the $1 million+ fine that’s been levied on him.
It’s been stated that while working at Square Enix, Naka got wind that there was a new Dragon Quest mobile game in the works. Supposedly, Naka then went and bought shares in the company developing the game. His intent was apparently to wait till the news pushed the share price up and sell them for a profit.
The Japanese courts will make their final decision this July 7th. But if Naka’s team haven’t been successful in getting the sentence suspended, he could be spending the next couple of years in jail. Well, until someone pushes the big button on the top of his cell, that is.
