NEW YORK _ New York congressman Chris Collins was busted Wednesday on federal insider trading charges, authorities said.
The Republican lawmaker, one of President Donald Trump's earliest supporters, was charged along with his son Cameron Collins and the father of Cameron's fiancee, Stephen Zarsky, in a scheme that allowed them to avoid $768,000 in stock losses.
The trio are accused of securities fraud related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotechnology company. The elder Collins sits on the firm's board of directors and is one of its largest shareholders.
Manhattan federal prosecutors say the upstate New York congressman passed to his son confidential information related to poor drug trial results.
Armed with the insider tips, Cameron Collins was able to "make timely trades in Innate stock and tip others," the indictment says.
Cameron Collins handed off the information to his fiancee's father, who also made stock trades and passed on the tip to others, prosecutors say.
"All of the trades preceded the public release of the negative drug trial results, and were timed to avoid losses that they would have suffered once the news became public," the indictment says.
The defendants are expected to appear in Manhattan Federal Court Wednesday afternoon.
