Thursday, 28 Mar 2024

Chris Collins’ son dodges prison time in insider trading case

The son of convicted ex-Congressman Chris Collins dodged time behind bars Thursday for insider trading, with a federal judge proclaiming he wouldn’t punish the man for his fathers’ illegal behavior.

“I decline to adhere to the idiom ‘the sins of the father are visited upon the children,’” Manhattan federal court judge Vernon Broderick told Cameron Collins, who admitted last year to using confidential information provided by his dad to dump stocks in 2017.

Broderick sentenced the 27-year-old to five years probation, 500 hours community service, and a $150,000 fine on Thursday.

The disgraced lawmaker — who was slapped with a 26-month sentence by the same judge last week — was not present for his son’s sentencing.

Both Christopher and Cameron Collins pleaded guilty last year, with the upstate Republican admitting he called his son to inform him about a failed drug trial at Australian Biotech company Innate Immunotherapeutics.

Cameron admitted to selling his shares before the news went public — avoiding around $571,000 in losses — and they both copped to lying to the FBI about the trade.

“I didn’t ask for the call and I didn’t expect it,” the sniffling engineer told the judge before the sentence was imposed. “I was 24-years-old, and I’d never heard my father sound like that.

“I wish I had just hung up the phone, and never said anything to anyone,” he added, referencing the fact that he passed the insider information to his fiancee’s father, who also traded and was later charged.

Zarsky is scheduled for sentencing Friday.

Collins, who resigned from Congress ahead of his guilty plea, is expected to enter prison March 17.

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