A New York congressman and his son were indicted for insider trading related to the shares of an Australian biotechnology firm, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York scheduled a news conference to announce announce insider trading charges against Christopher Collins, a Republican Congressman representing the 27th District of New York, his son Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins’s fiancée.
Collins, one of President Donald Trump’s early supporters in Congress, came under fire early last year for investing in the Sydney-based Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd. while sitting on a House committee that oversees health-care policy.
According to the indictment, Collins, a member of Innate’s board of directors and one of its largest shareholders, had access to nonpublic information about its primary business -- the development of a drug intended to treat a form of multiple sclerosis.
The company announced in June 2017 that a mid-stage trial of the experimental treatment showed no effect in helping patients, causing the shares to plunge. According to the indictment, the congressman tipped his son off to the trial results before they became public, which he then passed to others including Zarsky, allowing them to avoid more than $768,000 in losses.
“We will answer the charges filed against Congressman Collins in Court and will mount a vigorous defense to clear his good name,” said Jonathan Barr and Jonathan New, attorneys for Collins. “It is notable that even the government does not allege that Congressman Collins traded a single share of Innate Therapeutics stock. We are confident he will be completely vindicated and exonerated.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.