SEATTLE (Associated Press) – A 50-year-old Bellevue, Washington man used inside information to trade Netflix securities for more than $1.5 million. He pleaded guilty in federal court.
Acting US Attorney Tessa Gorman said that Junwoo Chon is scheduled to be sentenced on December 3.
“Insider trading is not a crime without a victim,” Gorman said in a press release. “When someone on one side of a transaction has non-public information, they have an advantage over someone on the other side-those who end up losing money in securities transactions. The integrity of our financial markets requires a fair and level playing field.”
Junwoo Chon was one of four men involved in a project involving two former Netflix software engineers who illegally provided proprietary subscriber data before Netflix’s earnings announcement.
Insider trading is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of 5 million U.S. dollars.
