Steven McClatchey, an investment banker with Barclays, passed along merger information to a boating pal, a plumber. The Barclays director did so with the intent of landing a less stressful job at a friend’s Long Island plumbing company because, as he said, he had had enough after 32 years on Wall Street. The friend made $76,000 trading on the information, but then turned government witness.

Now, instead of landing a cushier job, McClatchey is headed to prison for five months. Prosecutors sought a prison term of 10 to 16 months.

McClatchey pleaded guilty in July to passing information that his plumber friend, Gary Pusey, used to make 10 illegal trades in companies. Pusey rewarded McClatchey with cash, which he put in his friend’s gym bag or passed in thank-you handshakes, and by providing free tiling work in McClatchey’s home. Pusey pleaded guilty May 27.

"This was a period of 19 months, with multiple trades," Failla said, in rejecting the defense plea for a sentence of home confinement. She called McClatchey’s actions "an extraordinary breach of trust."

McClatchey and Pusey met at the Yachtsmen’s Cove marina in Freeport, Long Island, where the 2 men docked their boats and became friends in 2011 or 2012. By 2013, the two men spent most Saturdays together at the marina, on their boats or playing pool and watching sports in McClatchey’s garage.

McClatchey worked in Barclays’ investment-banking division and reported directly to the company’s global head of M&A, according to the SEC, which filed a civil suit against him and Pusey. He was responsible for putting together a weekly presentation to keep executives abreast of potential mergers involving the bank’s clients.