GS Goldman Sachs Group Inc

By Maria Armental 

A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker who traded on confidential information regarding prospective deals has been sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay back $130,000 in illegal gains.

Woojae "Steve" Jung, who pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud, was also sentenced to two years of supervised release, with six months of home confinement, and fined $30,000, according to court documents.

"We are very pleased that the judge imposed a below-guidelines sentence, " said Patrick J. Smith, an attorney for Mr. Jung. Judicial sentencing guidelines suggested a range of 1 1/2 years to 2 years in prison.

A related civil case filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission has been stayed pending the resolution of the criminal case in Manhattan federal court.

Mr. Jung joined Goldman Sachs in 2012 and later moved to the technology, media and telecommunications group, where he worked on numerous deals and was promoted to vice president.

Starting in early 2015, he made trades using a South Korean friend's brokerage account to conceal his involvement in the transactions and shared trading information with his younger brother, who lived in South Korea, according to court documents.

Over the course of the scheme, the authorities say, Mr. Jung traded in at least 10 companies based on inside information he obtained from his position at Goldman.

Trades in two companies -- SanDisk Corp. and KLA-Tencor Corp. -- accounted for the bulk of the profit, according to court documents.

Trades in SanDisk yielded $36,663 in profit and trades in KLA-Tencor yielded $64,000, court documents show.

Goldman represented SanDisk when it was acquired by Western Digital Corp. and advised KLA-Tencor when it was approached by Lam Research Corp. Lam ultimately called off the deal, citing antitrust concerns.

Mr. Jung was terminated by Goldman in 2018, following his arrest.

"Mr. Jung betrayed the trust the firm placed in him. We're pleased he was brought to justice," Goldman spokeswoman Maeve DuVally said.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 11, 2019 16:22 ET (20:22 GMT)

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