Instead of the usual speeches of “don’t drink and drive” or “there’s a time and place for doing everything … and it’s called university,” Rep. Christopher Collins of New York allegedly told his son something more along the lines of: “The drug-trial results from this Aussie biotech mob, upon whose board I sit by the way, came back negative. Wanna dump 1.4 million shares?”
According to reports, Collins was arrested on federal charges relating to securities fraud last week in a case involving Australian biotech Innate Immunotherapeutics (try saying that three times, really quickly, under water, with a mouth full of marbles.)
A Securities and Exchange Commission complaint against Collins — the first congressional Republican to endorse Trump’s bid for the White House — also details charges against his son Cameron and the father of his son’s girlfriend, Stephen Zarsky. All three have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
The SEC complaint says that in June 2017, Rep. Collins passed on non-public information about Innate Immunotherapeutics’ unexpectedly negative drug-trial results to his son. The case says that Cameron Collins sold nearly 1.4 million shares based on non-public information.
The Collins’s next father-son fishing trip will most likely be postponed.
