GOP Rep. Chris Collins Resigns Ahead of Reported Guilty Plea On Insider Trading
New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins is resigning, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office.
Collins is expected to appear in court tomorrow and multiple news organizations have reported he is expected to plead guilty to charges involving insider trading.
Collins was the first House Republican to endorse Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
His resignation will not take effect until the House meets in a pro forma session on Tuesday.
The Western New York Republican was arrested in August 2018 after a federal grand jury accused him of sharing material, non public information about Innate, an Australian biotech company. Collins was on the company's board of directors and passed along information about the results of drug trials — that information allowed them to make timely stock trades and avoid over $768,000 in losses, according to court documents.
He was charged with multiple counts, including securities fraud, wire fraud, and making false statements. Collins was indicted along with his son, Cameron, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron's fiancée.
An entry on the docket for Collins' case on Monday noted "Change of Plea Hearing scheduled for 10/1/2019 at 03:00 PM."
Collins' son and Zarsky are scheduled to appear on court on Thursday.
The move to change his plea comes more than a year after the Buffalo News reported Collins turned down a plea deal. The newspaper also reported the Collins submitted his resignation effective immediately to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
"We are in receipt of a letter of resignation," Drew Hammill, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff, told NPR. "It will be laid down on the House Floor tomorrow during pro forma. Resignation will be effective at that time."
Collins' office declined to comment and referred questions to his attorney, who did not respond to NPR.
Initially after his indictment, Collins said he would withdraw from his reelection campaign in 2018, but he changed his mind and narrowly won his race over Nate McMurray, a Democratic town supervisor.
President Trump won the district by 25 points in 2016. [Copyright 2019 NPR]
