An astute reader has emailed me about a new case in Japan that shows that Business Week-style insider trading schemes are no longer limited to the U.S. 

According to this article in the Japan Times, Kazumasa Sasahara, an employee of the business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc., was arrested Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of insider trading.  Sasahara worked in the advertising section at the newspaper's Tokyo office, and allegedly carried  out a scheme in which he traded based on nonpublic information he obtained on planned stock splits by five listed companies before legal notices on the splits were published in the paper.  Sasahara allegedly stole a password to get the information.

According to the Japanese Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (and thank you, Japan, for adding that word "Surveillance" to your the title), Sasahara generated about 30 million yen in illicit profits (about $256,000 per Google).

Two other notable items in the article that show how far the U.S. is in front of Japan in the insider trading industry:

1. "It is believed to be the first time that an employee of a media organization has been arrested on insider trading allegations."
2. "It is the first time the security watchdog has filed a criminal accusation for insider trading involving multiple stock issues."