New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins has reportedly been indicted on securities fraud charges.
According to CNBC, Collins will be indicted on insider trading charges and turned himself into the FBI on Wednesday morning.
The Department of Justice explains that the indictment is related to “securities of Innate Immunotherapeutics … an Australian biotechnology company on whose board of directors Christopher Collins served.”
Collins’ son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, Cameron Collins’ fiancé’s father, are also named in the indictment. Collins is accused of using his board position at Innate to share nonpublic trading information with his family, saving them more than $768,000 in losses after a failed drug trial in the summer of 2017.
Collins serves in New York’s 27th Congressional District. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District will hold a press conference about the charges on Wednesday afternoon, NBC News reports.
Collins’ attorneys promised in a statement that 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,” they wrote in the 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.”
“Congressman Collins will have more to say on this issue later today,” they concluded.