NEW YORK (AP) — A former investment banker who admitted making trades based on inside information to cover child support has been sentenced on New York securities fraud charges to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Frank Perkins Hixon Jr. was sentenced Friday in federal court in Manhattan.

Authorities say Hixon was a senior executive at the Evercore Group investment banking firm when he used the brokerage accounts of an ex-girlfriend in lieu of formal child support payments.

The government says Hixon generated a $260,000 profit by trading on information he knew because he headed an Evercore team advising on a deal by a liquid storage company to sell assets.

Authorities say he used his father's brokerage account to generate $710,000 in profits.

Evercore fired Hixon in January after investigating his trades.