Former Expedia Worker Jailed Over Illicit Stock Trades

BELLEVUE, WA - A former IT worker for Expedia subsidiary Hotwire.com was sentenced this week over insider trading charges, according to the FBI. Jonathan Ly, 28, who formerly worked in Hotwire's San Francisco office, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for securities fraud. Ly pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle in December.

Ly was sentenced on Tuesday in Seattle. The U.S. Department of Justice accused Ly of hacking emails of Expedia executives so that he could gain information that would help him make favorable stock trades.

According to charges, Ly worked as a senior IT tech at Hotwire in San Francisco between 2013 and 2015. Because of his job duties, Ly had access to computers used by Expedia executives. He would periodically access those machines to read emails from Expedia executives, according to the charges.

Ly earned approximately $330,000 from trading stocks based on the information he saw, according to charges. He still faces a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation over those profits, according to the FBI.

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