P.M. Briefing : Ex-Business Week Editor Given 6 Months for Trading on Inside Data

Seymour (Rudy) Ruderman, the former broadcast editor of Business Week, was sentenced today to six months in prison for trading on inside information obtained from pre-publication copies of the weekly magazine.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Ward also fined Ruderman $5,000 and placed him on probation for three years after his release.

Last December Ruderman, 62, pleaded guilty to the two mail fraud counts in connection with a scheme to buy securities on about 50 separate occasions while in possession of confidential information from Business Week’s “Inside Wall Street” column before the magazine’s publication.

“I feel such actions were a betrayal of my employer and my audience,” said Ruderman in a choked voice, adding “how sincerely sorry and ashamed” he was.