Kate Brumback

Associated Press

ATLANTA – A former Equifax executive who sold stock for nearly $1 million a week and a half before the company announced a massive data breach has pleaded guilty to insider trading.

Jun Ying, former chief information officer of Equifax’s U.S. Information Solutions, entered the plea Thursday in federal court in Atlanta. He was indicted in March 2018 and had previously pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors have said Ying exercised all his available stock options and sold his Equifax stock after receiving information in late August 2017 that caused him to realize Equifax was the victim of a breach.

Equifax shares plunged in value after the Atlanta-based credit reporting company disclosed the breach on Sept. 7, 2017. The company ultimately revealed that the personal information of more than 145 million people was exposed.

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