A former Apple Inc. (AAPL) trader, David Miller, will serve 30 months prison time for his fraudulent purchase of $1 billion worth of Apple Inc. (AAPL) stocks which caused the downfall of Rochdale Securities, Reuters reports.

Mr Miller was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny in Hartford, Connecticut, following his guilty plea in April of 2013. He admitted committing wire fraud and conspiracy.

Prosecutors said that Mr Miller conspired with a buyer (name withheld) to purchase 1.625 million worth of Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares on Oct 25, 2012. In actuality, the buyer only asked to buy 1,625 worth of shares. Mr Miller planned to collect the profit if the share price went up but will claim "human error" if the price dropped. The purchase was cunningly placed on the very day that Apple Inc. was set to announce its third-quarter results. The share price fell, hence, Mr Miller said that he had committed the mistake of purchasing a thousand times too much stock in good faith.

However, Rochdale faced $5.4 million loss and was undercapitalised, according to documents supplied by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In April 2013, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission released a statement saying that Mr Miller's scheme was "deliberate, brazen and ultimately ill-conceived".

"(It) caused catastrophic losses for his former employer and was unravelled promptly by the FBI," said attorney David Fein.

All aggrieved parties hoped for Mr Miller to serve 25 years in prison. But, because of a plea deal, the punishment was reduced to just five to eight years (and now to just 2 and half year.)

According to Mr Miller's attorney, he regretted his fraud and the damage that comes with it.

"Those who know David know that what happened here was out of character for a kind and generous family man who has lived an otherwise law abiding and good life. When the time comes he will accept his punishment and he will spend the rest of his life trying to make up for the wrong he committed," said Atty Kenneth C. Murphy.

According to prosecutors, Mr Miller had also defrauded another brokerage by persuading it to sell $500,000 worth of Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares to get around the fraud he committed at Rochdale. This brokerage ( named withheld) was able to trade out of the position at a profit.