Ex-Goldman worker gets five years

The plot is said to have involved stolen copies of Business Week

A former Goldman Sachs analyst has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his role in an insider trading plot which made $6.7m (£3.36m).

"I am ashamed and deeply sorry for what I did," Eugene Plotkin, 28, told US District Judge Richard Holwell.

The judge ordered him to serve four years and nine months in prison, pay a $10,000 fine and forfeit $6.7m.

Plotkin, who pleaded guilty in August, would face up to 165 years in prison if convicted at trial.

Complex plot

The federal case revolved around a complex plot involving Plotkin, another Goldman worker and stolen copies of Business Week magazine.

Plotkin and several other defendants were arrested in April 2006, accused of making millions from illegal trading by using information from pre-publication copies of Business Week.

The Goldman workers were alleged to have bribed staff at a printing plant to get early copies of the magazine.

The pair are also believed to have paid an analyst for inside information on takeovers.