The New York Republican, who was one of President Trump’s first supporters, has been sentenced to two years and two months in federal prison for helping his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses and lying to the FBI.
Collins had represented western New York since his election to the state’s 27th Congressional District in 2012. He resigned when he decided to plead guilty to a single conspiracy count, leaving the district’s constituents without representation in Congress.
Prosecutors faulted Collins for campaigning for a reelection race he won after his arrest and then continuing to serve. They said Collins learned that Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd.,, had failed a drug trial when he received a telephone call while he attended the annual Congressional Picnic at the White House on June 22, 2017.
Knowing that Innate’s stock would plunge when news got out, Collins, “from the White House lawn,” tried to reach his son to tip him off so he could sell his shares, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said he then conspired with family members to claim Cameron Collins and friends sold shares because they were spooked by a temporary halt in the trading of the stock rather than because they knew the stock price would fall 92% for the company headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with offices in Auckland, New Zealand.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Max Nicholas disputed the defense claim that the crime was the result of a tragic and emotional moment when Collins wasn’t thinking straight after learning the drug trial failed. The prosecutor noted there was a 10-month gap between his first crime when he called his son and the second when he lied to the FBI, which Nicholas described as Collins “doubling down.
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