XPost: sac.politics, alt.politics.republicans, alt.politics.media   
   XPost: alt.politics.economics   
   From: cigarclub@nytimes.com   
      
   Of course, if you're a Democrat and named Nancy Pelosi, insider trading   
   rules are perfectly legal.  Right Nancy? Right Obama?   
      
   (CNN)New York GOP Rep. Chris Collins vowed to fight the criminal charges   
   against him in court and win re-election, hours after federal prosecutors   
   arrested him on accusations that he took part in insider trading.   
      
   "The charges that have been levied against me are meritless," Collins said   
   Wednesday. "And I will mount a vigorous defense in court to clear my name.   
   I look forward to being fully vindicated and exonerated."   
      
   Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged Collins, his son and another man   
   with 13 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud and false statements   
   stemming from an alleged insider trading scheme centered on an Australian   
   pharmaceutical company. He could face up to 150 years in prison if   
   convicted on all counts, according to Nick Biase, a spokesman for the US   
   Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York.   
      
   Collins, who was the first sitting member of Congress to endorse Donald   
   Trump's presidential bid, surrendered Wednesday morning at his attorney's   
   office in Manhattan, according to the FBI.   
      
   He told reporters Wednesday evening, during a short news conference where   
   he did not take questions, that he would "not address any issues related   
   to Innate Immunotherapeutics outside of the courtroom" as he sought to   
   clear his name.   
      
   "As I fight to clear my name, rest assured, I will continue to work hard   
   for the people and constituents of the 27th Congressional District of New   
   York," Collins said. "And I will remain on the ballot running for re-   
   election this November."   
      
   Prosecutors at the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New   
   York alleged in an indictment that Collins and the other defendants acted   
   on nonpublic information about the results of a drug trial and used it to   
   trade on the stock of the pharmaceutical company, Innate   
   Immunotherapeutics Limited, of which Collins was a board member.   
      
   Innate Immunotherapeutics said in a statement that it had cooperated fully   
   with requests for information from the Securities and Exchange Commission   
   related to the Collins indictment.   
      
   "The US media has inaccurately reported that Mr. Collins and colleagues   
   were the beneficiaries of share issuances in the Company on privileged   
   terms," the statement said. "Mr. Collins (and colleagues) have only ever   
   participated in shareholder-approved share placements or 'rights issues'   
   of shares in the Company."   
      
   The indictment doesn't allege that Collins himself traded on the   
   information about the failed results of a drug trial, but that he passed   
   the information to his son, Cameron Collins, so that the younger Collins   
   could execute trades. And it alleges that the younger Collins passed the   
   information to others, including his fiancee's father, Stephen Zarsky, who   
   also traded on the information.   
      
   That allowed them, prosecutors allege, to avoid more than $768,000 in   
   losses they would have incurred if they had traded the stock after the   
   drug trial results became public. All three then lied about their actions   
   to federal agents, according to the indictment.   
      
   "Congressman Collins cheated our market and our justice system in two   
   ways," US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at a news conference Wednesday.   
   "First, he tipped his son to confidential corporate information at the   
   expense of regular investors. And then he lied about it to law enforcement   
   to cover it up."   
      
   Collins and the other defendants pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal   
   court Wednesday afternoon. Each must pay a $500,000 personal recognizance   
   bond.   
      
   The 30-page indictment highlights that the congressman received the   
   information about the failed drug trial from the company's CEO and then   
   repeatedly dialed his son while the elder Collins was attending the annual   
   congressional picnic at the White House on June 22, 2017.   
      
   At 7:10 p.m. that evening, amid the picnic, Chris Collins responded in an   
   email to the CEO, "Wow. Makes no sense. How are these results even   
   possible???"   
      
   One minute later, according to the indictment, Collins began placing phone   
   calls to his son. After failing six times to connect with his son, the   
   congressman reached him on the seventh call and informed him that the drug   
   trial for a multiple sclerosis treatment had failed, the indictment says.   
      
   Lawyers for Collins said the congressman would be "completely vindicated."   
   "We will answer the charges filed against Congressman Collins in court and   
   will mount a vigorous defense to clear his good name," Collins' attorneys,   
   Jonathan Barr and Jonathan New, said in a statement. "It is notable that   
   even the government does not allege that Congressman Collins traded a   
   single share of Innate Therapeutics stock. We are confident he will be   
   completely vindicated and exonerated."   
      
   In his remarks Wednesday evening, Collins likewise made a point of noting   
   that he had held onto his shares even when it became clear a drug they   
   once thought would be a "medical breakthrough" had fallen short.   
      
   "As a result, the significant investment I made in the company worth   
   millions of dollars (was) wiped out," Collins said. "That's OK. That's the   
   risk I took."   
      
   The indictment said Collins had been "virtually precluded from trading his   
   own shares for practical and technical reasons" -- references to both the   
   congressional ethics investigation that was ongoing into Collins regarding   
   the company and that Collins' shares in the company were held in   
   Australia, "and thus subject to the Australian trading halt."   
      
   "Accordingly, he did not trade his own stock and instead tipped Cameron   
   Collins," the indictment read.   
      
   House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that Collins would be removed from   
   the House Energy and Commerce Committee "until the matter is settled."   
      
   "While his guilt or innocence is a question for the courts to settle, the   
   allegations against Rep. Collins demand a prompt and thorough   
   investigation by the House Ethics Committee," Ryan, a Wisconsin   
   Republican, said in a statement. "Insider trading is a clear violation of   
   the public trust."   
      
   It is relatively rare for prosecutors to indict a sitting elected   
   official, particularly in an election year. In Collins' case, prosecutors   
   from the Southern District of New York carefully weighed when to bring the   
   charges, staying mindful of the upcoming election cycle in November,   
   according to people familiar with the matter.   
      
   Justice Department guidelines for federal prosecutors recommend that they   
   avoid taking investigative or prosecutorial steps that could sway voters'   
   decisions, and the controversy over former FBI Director James Comey's   
   public announcements during the 2016 presidential election cycle   
      
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