Update: The executive has now been named as Starbeeze's former CFO Sebastian Ahlskog.
According to the Swedish Economic Crime Authority and GamesIndustry.biz, he has been fined SEK 40,000 (£3162/$4121.28) and SEK 700,000 (£55,338.50/$72,121.40) in assets have been retrieved.
Original: An unnamed executive at Payday publisher Starbreeze has been convicted of insider trading.
Starbreeze suffered major financial difficulties in late 2018, following the disastrous launch of Overkill's The Walking Dead. The game was panned at launch, resulting in The Walking Dead owner Skybound Entertainment cancelling Starbreeze and Overkill's contract and forcing the game to be removed from sale just four months later. Shortly following the launch of The Walking Dead, Starbreeze's CEO Bo Andersson stepped down.
Following this, Starbreeze announced it would be undergoing a a raid by the Swedish police and an investigation into insider trading.
Andersson was later cleared in January 2019 when it emerged he had been forced into selling his shares. The second person, however, has now been convicted and fined. According to the Swedish outlet Dagens Industry, the combined amount of fines and recovered assets adds up to around SEK 700,000, or £58,121.
Starbreeze continues to struggle. In June 2019, a quarter of its staff was looks for a partner in publishing the in-development Payday 3.
