Ex-Microsoft employee Brian Jorgenson was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday for an insider trading scheme that netted him and an accomplice over $400,000, according to Reuters.
Jorgenson, a former corporate finance manager at the tech company, had pleaded guilty to securities fraud for passing information from his job to Sean Stokke, a day trader.
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman sentenced Jorgenson, who had originally asked for a year and a day in prison and 500 hours of community service, in Seattle federal court.
Jorgenson’s scheme started after he had discovered through his job that Microsoft (MSFT) planned to invest in Barnes & Noble (BKS). He passed along that information to Stokke, who bought options betting that the bookseller’s share’s would rise in value. The pair collected nearly $200,000 in profits. They repeated the process two more times based on other Microsoft investments over the next 18 months, according to Reuters.
Through their work, the two earned $414,000 and had plans to start a hedge fund. The two worked together in the past at an asset management company.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission charged both Jorgenson and Stokke back in December. Stokke was previously sentenced to 18 months in prison.