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.