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Tokyo Man Arrested for Insider Trading on Gonzo's GDH

A Tokyo man was arrested on Thursday on charges of insider stock trading on an anime production company. Former Aozora Bank employee Takeshi Matsubara, 49, was arrested for buying shares at low prices before the production company's partnership was made public, and then selling the shares at high prices after the partnership was announced. The 47 News service identifies the company as GDH, the former parent company of the Gonzo anime studio. (Since the alleged insider trading in 2006 and 2007, GDH absorbed the anime studio and adopted the Gonzo name for itself in April of 2009.)

According to the charges, Matsubara had received confidential information on the anime production company's planned third-party allocation of shares in early December of 2006. He then allegedly bought 135 shares of the company's stock for 11.6 million yen (about US$124,000) between December 11, 2006 and January 19, 2007 — the day that GDH announced a capital tie-up with So-net Entertainment Corporation.

After the anime production company's stock rose, Matsubara allegedly sold his shares for several million yen (several tens of thousands of U.S. dollars) in profit in late January of 2007.

Sources: Tokyo Shimbun, Kyodo News, Sankei Shimbun via Japanator