SEATTLE (AP) — A 50-year-old Bellevue, Washington man who made more than $1.5 million by using inside information to trade in Netflix securities has pleaded guilty in federal court.
Junwoo Chon is scheduled to be sentenced on December 3, said Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman.
“Insider trading is not a victimless crime,” Gorman said in a press release. “When someone on one side of the trade has non-public information, they have an advantage over the person on the other side—the person who ultimately loses money on their securities trade. The integrity of our financial markets demands a fair and level playing field.”
Junwoo Chon is one of four men charged in a scheme involving two former Netflix software engineers who illegally provided proprietary subscriber data in advance of Netflix’s earnings announcements.
Insider trading is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine.