Robert Besser
07 Dec 2021, 03:21 GMT+10
NEW YORK CITY, New York: A former Netflix software engineer and his friend will serve time in prison after being found guilty of securities fraud this week.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of Washington state, the pair participated in an insider trading ring, illegally generating more than $3 million, U.S. attorney Nick Brown said.
Sung Mo Jun, 49, was sentenced to two years in prison and a $15,000 fine. His co-conspirator, Junwoo Chon, 50, was sentenced to 14 months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Both men live in Bellevue, Washington.
"For people in the high-tech industry, they will clearly know that there are consequences -- including prison time -- for this activity," U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones said during the sentencing.
Insider trading is defined as the buying or selling of a company's securities using information not available to the public.
Insider trading is illegal in the United States.
Brown, the U.S. attorney, issued a press release after the sentencing, in which he noted that the defendants, Jun and Chong, were financially secure and had well-paying jobs, but "greed drove them to break the law to increase their own wealth."
According to case records, Jun was employed at Netflix from July 2016 to February 2017, during which time he sent confidential information to his brother, Joon Jun.
After leaving Netflix, Jun continued receiving information from another Netflix engineer, Ayden Lee, case records showed.
As part of his sentence, Jun must return $495,188 to the U.S. government, while Chon will return $1,582,885.
"What I did was foolish, wrong, illegal.... I have no excuse. I disappointed many people," Jun told the court at his sentencing.
The other two conspirators, Joon Jun and Lee, are to be sentenced in 2022.
Get a daily dose of BC Post news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to BC Post.
More InformationWARSAW, Poland: As part of European Union (EU) sanctions imposed against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, Poland banned all ...
MONTGOMERY, Alabama: Last week, Alabama's school chief, Superintendent Eric Mackey, said that under new reading benchmarks to move to fourth ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: Last week, the Federal Reserve said its losses surpassed the US$100 billion mark and will likely continue to ...
ARLINGTON, Virginia: This week, the U.S. State Department approved the potential sale of drone-related munitions and other systems to Canada ...
BETHESDA, Maryland: This week, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) said that it started early-stage human trials on FluMos-v2, ...
MAUI, Hawaii: Hawaii Governor Josh Green has announced that the death toll from last month's deadly fire on Maui has ...
(Photo credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports) The Milwaukee Brewers are trying to keep an even keel as they edge closer ...
(Photo credit: Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports) With only nine games remaining in their pursuit of first place in the American ...
(Photo credit: Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK) Corbin Carroll had four hits, scored three runs and stole two ...
(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports) Rookie right-hander Reese Olson gave up one run over six innings as the visiting ...
(Photo credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports) Indiana head coach Tom Allen expects more from his defense. The Hoosiers (1-2) had ...
(Photo credit: Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports) Houston continues its season-opening run of games against in-state rivals when it plays host ...