Former U.S. House Rep. Christopher Collins pleaded guilty and agreed to settle the insider trading charges filed against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The former lawmaker’s son, Cameron Collins and Stephen Zarsky, also pleaded guilty and settled to related criminal charges.
The insider trading charges against the defendants were in connection with securities of Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotechnology company.
The SEC alleged that the older Collins then an independent director of Innate Immunotherapeutics, tipped his son about the non-public negative trial results for a multiple sclerosis drug developed by the biotech company.
Cameron traded on the information and tipped others including Zarsky. They sold almost 1.7 million shares of Innate Immunotherapeutics before the biotech company announced the negative trial results. They avoided combined losses of more than $700,000, according to the Commission.
Under the settlements, Collins is prohibited from serving as an officer or director of a public company. His is son and Zarksy agreed to disgorge the losses they avoided as a result of the insider trading.
