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

Prosecutors say Jun Ying exercised his available stock options before making the sale and realized a gain of more than $480,000. That's about $117,000 more than it would have been worth after the price plummeted when the breach was disclosed.

Ying, former chief information officer of Equifax's U.S. Information Solutions, entered the plea Thursday in Atlanta's federal court.

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

The Atlanta-based credit reporting company disclosed the breach Sept. 7, 2017.