A former senior executive at semiconductor maker Qualcomm Inc on Friday was sentenced to a one-and-a-half year in prison for a three-year insider trading scheme.

Jing Wang, Qualcomm's former president of global business operations, made several hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal profits from buying shares of Qualcomm and another company based on knowledge gained in his elevated position.

Wang, 52, of Del Mar, California, pleaded guilty last year in July to the charges of insider trading, money laundering and obstruction of justice in connection with his scheme.

According to the U. S. Department of Justice, Wang admitted to three separate insider trades using a brokerage account in the British Virgin Islands.

Wang in early 2010 brought about $277,000 worth of Qualcomm stock, with prior knowledge that the company planned to increase its dividend and repurchase stock.

Later in December 2010, he bought stock of chipmaker Atheros with the knowledge that Qualcomm planned to make an offer to purchase the company.

Few weeks after that, he told his stockbroker, Gary Yin, to sell the Atheros stock and purchase Qualcomm stock, just one day before the company announced record earnings.

Wang pleaded guilty for transferring his illegal proceeds between entities he controlled in the British Virgin Islands. He also admitted to obstructing justice by concocting a plan whereby he and stockbroker Yin would blame Wang's brother Bing Wang, who lived in rural China, for the insider trading scheme.

U. S. Attorney Laura Duffy, said, "Jing Wang was a powerful insider at one of the world's top corporations, but he threw it all away to make a few hundred thousand dollars".