Former Sonic Group head and Sonic the Hedgehog programmer Yuji Naka has reportedly been arrested in relation to the ongoing Square Enix insider trading investigation.

Japanese information website FNN Prime On-line reviews that Naka is now the newest suspenct in a case relating to insider trading surrounding a brand new Dragon Quest sport.

On Thursday two former Square Enix staff have been arrested in Tokyo as part of a suspected insider trading scheme.

Taisuke Sazaki and Fumiaki Suzuki have been arrested for buying inventory in Japanese developer Aiming, shortly earlier than it was introduced that it was engaged on a brand new Dragon Quest sport.

The 2 reportedly bought round ¥47 million ($336,300) of inventory in Aiming, simply earlier than it was publicly confirmed that it was growing cell title Dragon Quest Tact.

Now, in accordance with FNN, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors’ Workplace’s Particular Investigation Division has additionally arrested Naka for the same potential infringement.

It’s alleged that earlier than Dragon Quest Tact was introduced, Naka – who was engaged on Balan Wonderworld for Square Enix at the time – bought roughly 10,000 shares of Aiming inventory for round ¥2.8 million ($20,000).

By buying the inventory earlier than the announcement, the perception is that every one three suspects could have knowingly used insider info with the intention to later promote the inventory once more when its worth elevated.

Following the arrests of the unique two suspects, Square Enix made an announcement confirming that the pair have been former staff and stating that it was working with authorities on the investigation.

“In the present day, some media shops reported that the former staff of Square Enix have been below investigation for suspected insider trading,” the assertion reads.

“We’ve been totally cooperating with requests from the Securities and Alternate Surveillance Fee. As the investigation by the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Workplace is underway, we’ll proceed to totally cooperate with the investigation.

“We deeply remorse the nice concern this has brought on to all involved. We’ve handled this incident strictly, together with inner disciplinary actions taken in opposition to the suspected staff.”

Square Enix is Yuji Naka’s former employer, the place he helmed important failure Balan Wonderland earlier than his departure from the firm final 12 months.

Nevertheless, improvement on Balan went so poorly that Naka would later sue Square Enix, claiming he was faraway from the undertaking six months earlier than launch.

Naka first spoke out in opposition to Balan Wonderworld’s improvement in April, in an explosive sequence of tweets.

“Sport creators are supposed to enhance their video games till the very finish, and I imagine that it’s unsuitable to stop them from finishing up this aim,” Naka wrote in April, translated by VGC.

“I requested my lawyer to barter with our enterprise companions to a minimum of permit me to handle points on Balan Wonderworld’s improvement till the very finish, however they ignored my requests, so I finally determined to file a lawsuit in courtroom.

“It’s as a result of of this that Balan Wonderworld obtained all the criticisms and feedback you all know nicely,” he claimed. “It’s fairly unlucky {that a} undertaking I had spearheaded from the starting would prove this manner.

“Personally, I imagine that it’s a true shame that Balan Wonderworld was launched in the state that it was in. I needed to point out the world an motion sport in its correct gentle. Due to this fact, I imagine that Square Enix and Arzest are firms that care about neither video games nor their followers.”