Collins charged with insider trading

 Republican Rep. Christopher Collins of New York was arrested yesterday (August 8th) on insider trading charges, accusing of giving inside information to his son that he got from sitting on the board of a biotechnology corporation. It's claimed the information about Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd. helped Collins' family and friends avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses when one of the company’s drugs failed in a medical trial. Collins, his son and the father of the son’s fiancee have been charged with conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud and making false statements to the FBI. Collins, who was one of the first members of Congress to endorse Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, pled not guilty yesterday, and told reporters hours after he was released on bail that he was innocent and that he would stay on the ballot for re-election in the midterm elections in November. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said yesterday that he was removing Collins from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, calling insider trading "a clear violation of the public trust."