Yuji Naka says he "knew the facts" in a public admission in the first day of court.
A Japanese businessman with glasses smiling at the camera.

This week saw the start of the trial against Yuji Naka, the creator of Sonic and Balan Wonderworld, as he stands accused of insider trading. The trial concerns Naka's ownership of shares worth $1 million and $20,000 respectively in both ATeam and Aiming Inc. These two companies worked with Square Enix on the creation of mobile games such as Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier and Dragon Quest Tact.

Naka was accused of using his knowledge of the deal, as a Square Enix employee, to purchase shares in these two companies before the deal was made public. Reports say that Naka pulled in a profit of about $146,000 from this alleged insider trading. The details of the allegations have been met with little to no resistance by Naka, who essentially admitted his guilt on the very first day of the trial.

Initial reporting on this trial by NHK shares remarks said by Naka in court.

"There is no doubt that I knew the facts about the game before it was made public and bought the stock."
The courts of Japan hold a conviction rate of 99.9%, so it was probably in Naka's best interests to just admit to doing what he is accused of doing. It's possible that this free admission of guilt will help lessen his sentence, but that still remains to be seen.