Politics

GOP Rep. Chris Collins Resigns Amid Insider Trading Scandal

No featured image available

Four-term Republican Rep. Chris Collins of New York submitted his resignation from Congress Monday, one day before he’s expected to plead guilty to charges of insider trading.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “is in receipt of a letter of resignation” from Collins, which will be made effective Tuesday morning when it’s brought to the floor of the House, her spokesman Drew Hammill told CNBC.

Breaking: A source confirms @SpeakerPelosi has received a letter of resignation from @RepChrisCollins (R-NY). It will be laid down on the House Floor during a pro forma session on Tuesday and the resignation will be effective at that time.

— John R Parkinson (@jparkABC) September 30, 2019

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.

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 fiancée, Stephen Zarsky, were able to offload their shares in the company and avoided 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 was the first member of Congress to publicly endorse Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.

Collins’s office did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.