New Castle hedge fund co-founder Mark Kurland, 61, drew 27 months in a federal lock-up and the forfeit of $900,000 last Friday for his part in the Galleon insider trading scandal, the first of the admitted conspirators to be sentenced for securities fraud.

Kurland was Danielle Chiesi’s boss and Chiesi is the aging beauty queen captured on wiretaps beguiling insider information on AMD, IBM and Lenovo out of former IBM senior exec Robert Moffat, tips that she, Kurland and others traded on.

Kurland’s lawyers tried to get him off with just probation, and argued that he shouldn’t have to do more time than Moffat, who like Kurland pleaded guilty and isn’t cooperating with the authorities but reportedly cut a deal that will see him get no more than six months in the slammer when he’s sentenced.

On hearing the Moffat comparison in court last week Bloomberg says the US attorney blurted out that Kurland was guiltier than Moffat because Kurland acted out of greed while Moffat had an “intimate relationship” with Chiesi, practically dignifying Moffat’s role as a crime of passion.

We said from the very beginning Moffat, who reportedly might have become IBM’s CEO, would have to do more explaining to his wife than to the feds, an insight reinforced when it became clear he didn’t tip Chiesi off for money.

Moffat’s lawyer is also supposed to make a bid for probation. Chiesi and ringleader Raj Rajaratnam go on trial in October.

Kurland, who got less than the federal minimum, has been ordered to start serving his sentence on July 23.

• Moffat’s & Other Indictments Delayed
• Another Galleon Player Pleads Guilty
• Ex-IBM Honcho Claims He’s Innocent
• Why IBM’s Server Chief Got Busted