Congressman accused of insider trading

NEW YORK — Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Collins of western New York state was arrested Wednesday on charges that he fed inside information he gleaned from sitting on the board of a biotechnology company to his son, helping family and friends dodge hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses when bad news came out.

Collins, 68, pleaded innocent to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court.

Speaking to reporters in Buffalo hours after his release on bail, Collins professed his innocence and said he would remain on the ballot for re-election this fall.

“I believe I acted properly and within the law at all times,” he said. “I will mount a vigorous defense in court to clear my name. I look forward to being fully vindicated and exonerated.”

Prosecutors said the charges stem from Collins’ alleged decision to share with his son insider information about Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited, a biotechnology company headquartered in Australia. Collins was the Sydney company’s largest shareholder, with nearly 17 percent of its shares, and sat on its board.

According to the indictment, on June 22, 2017, he received an email from the company’s chief executive saying that a trial of a drug the company developed to treat multiple sclerosis was a clinical failure.

The next morning, according to the indictment, Cameron Collins began selling his shares, unloading enough over a two-day period to avoid $570,900 in losses before a public announcement of the drug trial results. After the announcement, the company’s stock price plunged 92 percent. — The Associated Press