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- A former Amazon employee's husband was sentenced after pleading guilty to insider trading.
- Between 2016 and 2018, Viky Bohra illegally traded Amazon stock for a profit of $1.4 million.
- Bohra used confidential financial information ahead of eleven straight earnings announcements.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The husband of a former Amazon employee was sentenced Thursday to 26 months in prison after pleading guilty in November to insider trading, the US Attorney for the Western District of Washington said.
For two and a half years, starting in 2016, Viky Bohra admitted to using confidential financial information he received from his wife, Laksha, to place illegal trades on Amazon stock for a profit of $1.4 million.
According to court records, Bohra accessed information about Amazon revenue and expenses from his wife, who at the time worked as a senior manager in Amazon's tax department, and used that information in violation of trading blackout periods.
"Bohra's conduct was not an isolated incident, limited to trading before one Amazon earning's statement. Rather, Bohra engaged in illegal insider trading in advance of 11 straight earnings announcements," prosecutors wrote to the court.
The US Securities Exchange Commission brought civil charges last September against Bohra, his wife, and his father, for which they paid more than $2.6 million to repay the illegal gains, along with interest and penalties.
"Vik Bohra deeply regrets this conduct, accepts full responsibility, and intends to promptly repay the funds," said attorney Peter Offenbecher in a statement at the time, according to The Seattle Times.
As part of his plea agreement, Bohra's wife will not face criminal charges.
"This case should stand as a warning to those who try to game the markets with insider trading: there is a heavy price to pay with a felony conviction and prison sentence," US Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a statement.
Neither Amazon nor an attorney for Mr. Bohra immediately responded to Insider's request for comment.