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Rajat Gupta's plea for freedom pending an appeal of his conviction fell on deaf ears in a Manhattan court room Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff sentenced the former Goldman Sachs director to two years in prison for insider trading and fined him $5 million, Reuters reported.

It was a far cry from the 10 years Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Tarlowe was seeking to send a clear message to financial executives that insider trading, "will be severely punished."

A jury convicted Gupta, 63, in June of one count of conspiracy and three counts of securities fraud for leaking stock tips to his business partner Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder of the Galleon Group, once one of the world's largest hedge funds.

The judge said he would make a recommendation to U.S. prison officials that Gupta serve his term, which will become effective Jan. 8, at the federal prison in Otisville, New York, Reuters reported.

Rakoff called the evidence against Gupta, "not only overwhelming," but, "disgusting in its implications," as reported by Reuters. Before sentencing he noted that leaking information about a $5 billion deal to save Goldman to Rajaratnam minutes before the markets closed was the, "functional equivalent of stabbing Goldman in the back."

Gupta leaked information about the investment by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway on Sept. 23, 2008.

U.S. Attorney Tarlowe said Rajaratnam earned millions based on the tips.

Rajaratnam was convicted by a Manhattan jury in May 2011 of all 14 counts of fraud and conspiracy brought against him. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined $10 million.

Regarding Rajaratnam's conviction, The New York Times said, "It was the longest-ever prison sentence for insider trading, a watershed moment in the government's aggressive two-year campaign to root out the illegal exchange of confidential information on Wall Street."