Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- A former Morgan Stanley finance vice president and her husband, an ex-hedge fund analyst at ING Investment Management, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and insider trading as part of a federal crackdown on the practice.

The couple, Jennifer Wang, 31, and Ruben Chen, 34, of Englishtown, New Jersey, face from 30 months to 37 months in prison and fines of as much as $5 million at their Dec. 7 sentencing. They made more than $600,000 through three illegal trades starting in 2005, authorities said.

``I feel deeply sorry for my conduct,'' Wang told U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon today in New York. ``I understood what I did was wrong.''

U.S. prosecutors this year have stepped up efforts to combat insider trading. In May, former Morgan Stanley Compliance Officer Randi Collotta and her husband pleaded guilty to insider-trading charges in an unrelated case. Last month a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. associate pleaded guilty to making more than $6.7 million through illegal trades.

Wang and Chen were arrested May 10 for trading in the securities of Town and Country Trust, Glenborough Realty Trust and Genesis Health Care, based on information Wang learned from New York-based Morgan Stanley. They made their illegal trades from December 2005 to March 2007.

Advising on Acquisition

According to the government, Morgan Stanley was advising its unit Morgan Stanley Real Estate, on the acquisition of both Town and Country and Glenborough. Wang learned about the firm's failure to acquire Town and Country and the successful purchase of Glenborough before news of the transactions became public.

``My wife told me that Town and Country was a potential acquisition target,'' Chen said in court.

Wang and Chen each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of insider trading.

Representatives of ING Groep NV, the largest Dutch financial-services company, and Morgan Stanley have said their firms cooperated with federal investigators.

In another insider trading prosecution, a hedge fund trader in July became the seventh person to admit guilt in a case against employees at Zurich-based UBS and New York-based Bear Stearns Cos. Charges against other defendants in that case are pending.

The case is U.S. v. Wang, 07-cr-730, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: David Glovin in U.S. District Court in New York at dglovin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 5, 2007 17:17 EDT