GOP Congressman Expected To Plead Guilty To Insider Trading

Republican Rep. Chris Collins of New York is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to charges of insider trading, according to court documents filed Monday.

Collins was indicted in August for using his board position at Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian-based pharmaceutical company, to tip his son off that the company’s primary drug, a treatment for a form of multiple sclerosis, had failed its drug trial before the information was made public.

Collins was attending a congressional picnic at the White House in June 2017 when he informed his son, who at the time owned approximately 2.3% of Innate’s shares, of the company’s failed drug trial so that he “could use that information to make timely trades in Innate stock and tip others,” according to the indictment.

Shares in Innate fell by 92% after news of the failed drug trial became public. But being privy to insider information from his father, Cameron Collins and the father of his fiancee, Stephen Zarsky, were able to “avoid over $768,000 in losses that they would have otherwise incurred if they had sold their stock in Innate after the Drug Trial results became public,” the indictment stated.

Collins had initially entered a not guilty plea in September following his indictment, but on Monday a “change of plea hearing” was filed in his case, indicating that he’s likely had a change of heart and will plead guilty to the charges when the hearing is held Tuesday.

Collins’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.