An English teacher at a private academy has received a three-year prison term for colluding in the leaking and selling of SAT test papers to overseas students, court records showed Friday.

The Supreme Court finalized the prison sentence for the academy teacher in Seoul's Gangnam district surnamed Song, for colluding with part-time teachers at foreign language high schools and brokers to sell the US college admissions tests to students and parents overseas prior to the exam date.

The suspects took advantage of the time difference in some regions overseas, which took the SAT tests a few hours later than in South Korea.

Investigations showed the teaching staff took photos of the leftover test papers on the day of the exam, and brokers had the academy teachers solve the problems. The test papers and answer sheets were then delivered to students taking the SAT overseas, including in Europe.

The defendant was in charge of looking for the target students and delivering the test papers and its answers.

The ring reportedly earned some 1.1 billion won ($851,934) in proceeds from 2014 to 2019.

The district court sentenced Song to four years behind bars, but the appeals court reduced the prison term to three years after finding the defendant not guilty of some of the charges.

The top court finalized the lower court's ruling last month and handed down the three year prison term for Song on charges of obstruction of business. (Yonhap)