Former Rep. sentenced for insider trading
NEW YORK — A former congressman who was one of President Donald Trump’s first 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.
Christopher 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 even after Collins’ lawyers argued he was sorry and should face no prison time in the insider trading case.
Crime victims bill filed
WASHINGTON — Two members of Congress filed a bill Friday that would increase punishment for prosecutors if they fail to inform crime victims of plea deals, an effort to prevent future, secret agreements like the one serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein received from then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta in 2007.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and Rep. James Sensenbrenner, RWis., filed the Crime Victims’ Rights Act of 2020 on Friday. The legislation would add specific notice requirements to ensure victims are made aware of their rights by prosecutors, and judges will be able to remove or punish prosecutors who fail to do so.
“If federal prosecutors revictimize innocent victims — as Epstein’s horrific plea deal did — they must be held accountable, in a timely fashion,” Ms. Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “This legislation would give our justice system vital tools to prevent such gross miscarriages of injustice from being repeated. His victims deserve to know that no one will suffer the way they have again.”
Changes in S.C. voting
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Democratic officials celebrated a victory after South Carolina election officials agreed to change voter registration requirements that currently demand all voters to submit their full Social Security number, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced Friday morning.
South Carolina is one of three states that currently requires all nine digits of a Social Security number to register to vote, according to the statement. The new agreement among the DCCC, the South Carolina Democratic Party, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and South Carolina officials removes that requirement, instead opting for requiring only the last four digits.
The motion, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in Columbia, went unopposed.
Food standards altered
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration moved on Friday to roll back school nutrition standards championed by Michelle Obama, an effort long sought by food manufacturers and some school districts that have chafed at the cost of Ms. Obama’s prescriptions for fresh fruit and vegetables.
The proposed rule by the Agriculture Department, coming on Ms. Obama’s birthday, would give schools more latitude to decide how much fruit to offer during breakfast and what types of vegetables to include in meals. It would also broaden what counts as a snack.