Former New York Congressman Chris Collins was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison for insider trading and lying to the FBI. The Hill has the details:
A federal judge on Friday rejected pleas for Collins to receive probation and sentenced him to 26 months in prison, according to multiple reports.
Collins…was charged in August 2018 with securities fraud related to an Australian pharmaceutical company that counted him as one of its top shareholders.
The New York Republican resigned from office in September and later pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud and one count of making false statements.
Collins’s fortunes on Capitol Hill first took a turn after he was overheard by reporters bragging about “how many millionaires I’ve made in Buffalo.”
GOP lawmakers had told The Hill in 2017 that the New York Republican had boasted about how much money he had made for other members of Congress by alerting them to the pharmaceutical company Innate Immunotherapeutics, where he served on the board of directors and was the largest shareholder.
A congressional ethics investigation later found that he may have violated the law and House rules by sharing nonpublic information with investors.
Geoff Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said following the indictment of Collins and his son that the congressman “acted as if the law didn’t apply to him.”
While it’s always good to see a dirty politician in the clink, it never seems to happen to Democrats, and not for a lack of law-breaking. Laws don’t seem to apply to Democrats who violate them, like Hillary Clinton and her secret private server that appears to have broken all sorts of laws relating to classified documents. We also haven’t seen the likes of James Comey in handcuffs for his role in FBI violations that led to the falsified FISA warrants used to spy on a presidential campaign.
Exclusively on FOX News Sunday: Chris Wallace asks Former FBI Director James Comey if the IG Report vindicates him. Director Comey responds to previous statements he made in 2018 about the Carter Page FISA warrant being handled appropriately: "There was real sloppiness." pic.twitter.com/vPmCV11hRe
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The unequal application of justice leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth when you start paying attention to who is held accountable and who isn’t. I’m glad Chris Collins is getting justice. I’d sure like to see the same on the other side of the aisle.
Megan Fox is the author of “Believe Evidence; The Death of Due Process from Salome to #MeToo,” and host of The Fringe podcast. Follow on Twitter @MeganFoxWriter
An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Collins as a senator.
