Ex-congressman Chris Collins sentenced to 26 months in prison in insider trading case

NEW YORK —  A former New York congressman who was one of President Trump’s earliest supporters was sentenced Friday to two years and two months in federal prison after admitting he helped his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company had failed.

Chris Collins, 69, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick in Manhattan after the Republican pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to law enforcement officials.

Collins broke down and apologized to his family and his former constituents and colleagues.

“I stand here today as a disgraced former member of Congress,” he said. “My life has been shattered.”

The sentence came after Collins’ lawyers argued that he was sorry and should face no prison time in the insider trading case.

Prosecutors, however, contended that he should go to prison for nearly five years. They said Collins and his son, Cameron, were worth a total of $35 million when they conspired to sell shares in a pharmaceutical company before devastating news was made public.

The trading, prosecutors said, enabled Cameron Collins and friends to dodge $800,000 in losses.

Collins’ attorneys asked the judge for leniency, citing their client’s expressed contrition, advanced age, charitable works and saying there was a low chance he would commit any more crimes.

“This is a sad and tragic day for Chris and his family,” defense attorney Jonathan Barr said. “He stands before you humbled, penitent and remorseful.”

Collins had been a vocal Trump supporter, becoming the first member of Congress to endorse him as a presidential candidate. He also called for an end to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election and accused former President Obama’s administration of failing to push back against Moscow.

He vehemently denied wrongdoing when he was charged in 2018, with a spokeswoman calling a House Ethics Committee inquiry into Collins a “partisan witch hunt.”

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., whose board he sat on, 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.”

“We do not agree this crime was emotional,” Nicholas said.

Broderick called it baffling that Collins would exercise such poor judgment when he and his son had the financial means to deal with any loss.

“I have a difficult time reconciling that,” the judge said.

“It was a stupid, impulsive action that doesn’t make sense,” Barr, Collins’ defense attorney, responded. “He really thought this company had something that was going to be a magic bullet for somebody with a really serious illness.”