Interviews with political figures and news updates. Interviews with political figures and news updates. Able to sell the shares. They have telephone logs, who called whom and when. It appears they have people helping the government out with the testimony. As mimi said, andrea, its kind of overwhelming evidence thats difficult for federal prosecutors to ignore. And chuck todd, weve not yet seen to my knowledge a tweet from the president or any suggestion that this is witch hunt, mueller related. But this is really separate, this is an investigation that started, there was an Ethics Investigation that we heard about some months back, last year sometime. And so this does not come from the Mueller Operation at all. Right. And thats the thing, it has zero to do this is just bad timing, bad coincidence. And it looks bad, right . Here is yet another person close to the president who seems to be taking advantage of access,
special access, or a pay to play issue. The president s ally, the president has allies that are accumulating a lot of baggage, frankly, that makes the president s Drain The Swamp mantra just look even more ridiculous two years later. You look at the story, theres another story out there this morning about maralago members, that suddenly essentially are unofficially running the Veterans Affairs department, including the head of Marvel Comics studio. Just in the last week weve seen a lot of people in and around the president. So its certainly a bad look for him. But remember, this has no connection, and politically, andrea, lets say youre the Republican Party and you wake up this morning and not only did you have that horrendous night last night that just scares the bejesus out of you, but now you have a congressman arrested in Western New York in a seat you never thought would be in play, but by the way another incumbent
congressman has a local prosecutor looking into Petition Signature Fraud in Virginia Beach, all before 9 30 a. M. This morning. As we see the prosecutors come out and the u. S. Attorney there, and we should point out one of the big figures there, its the fbi official but also the u. S. Attorney there, is a trump appointee. Of course this is one of the u. S. Attorneys who was fired by President Trump. And the fact is, were going to be talking about that election and all those results coming up in a minute, chuck, with you as well, but there is no way that we know about to get him off the ballot. That is another issue. Lets listen to the head of the fbi. Chris collins, a United States congressman, Congressman Collins is charmed wiged with i trading and lying to the fbi. As alleged in the indictment, Congressman Collins cheated our markets and our justice system
in two ways. First, he tipped his son to confidential Corporate Information at the expense of regular investors. And then he lied about it to Law Enforcement to cover it up. Also charged is his son, Cameron Collins, and steven zarsky, the father of camerons fiance. These charges are a reminder that this is a nation of laws, and that everybody stands equal before the bar of justice. Now i would like to go into the details of the allegations a little more. In addition to serving in the house of representatives, Congressman Collins was also on the Board Of Directors of a
publicly traded company that was developing a drug for Multiple Sclerosis. In june of 2017, Congressman Collins was told some confidential and highly Sensitive Information about innate, information that was not yet made public, namely that innates main drug, the drug innate was developing to be the backbone of its company, was a total failure. This was devastating information for the company. Congressman collins had an obligation, a legal duty, to keep that Information Secret until that information was released by the company to the public. But he didnt keep it secret. He instead, as alleged, decided to commit a crime. He placed his family and friends above the public good. Congressman collins was a major investor in innate, and so was his son cameron. The congressman knew he couldnt sell his own shares for personal and technical reasons, including that he was already under an investigation regarding innate by the congressional ethics office. The crime that he committed was to tip his son cameron so that cameron and a few select others could trade on the news while the investing public remained in the dark. As the indictment alleges, thats exactly what they did. His son cameron sold. Camerons fiance sold. The father of the fiance, zarsky, sold. Zarskys wife sold. Other friends and relatives sold. All because Congressman Collins violated his duty to keep innates Information Secret. And when the news of the drugs failure became public, the stock plummeted. In total, the conspirators used the Inside Information to avoid over 750,000 in losses. But Congressman Collins couldnt keep his crime a secret forever. The fbi asked to interview him and instead of telling the truth, he lied. And so did Cameron Collins. And so did steven zarsky. By lying to the fbi, they compounded their Insider Trading crime with the crime of criminal coverup. Now i would like to go over to these two charts which summarize some of the allegations in the indictment. This first chart is a tipping chain. It demonstrates the flow of the illegal Insider Information and the trading, the illegal trading on that information. At the top of the chain is Congressman Collins. He had an obligation as innate board member, when he received confidential Corporate Information, to keep that Information Secret until the Company Announced it to the public. In total disregard of that obligation, minutes after Congressman Collins received the devastating, highly confidential news that innates drug had failed its drug trial, Congressman Tocongress MCongressman Collins tipped that
information to his son so his son could trade it. Cameron collins. When he received that illegal Inside Information, he did two things, both of which are illegal. He sold stock based on that Inside Information and avoided 570,000 in losses. And he also took that illegal Inside Information and tipped others. He tipped his fiance. He tipped his fiances wife. He tipped his fiances father. And he tipped a friend. All of whom traded on that illegal Inside Information. Steven zarsky, his fiances father, avoided 143,000 in losses by trading on that information. And he tipped others. He tipped his brother. He tipped his sister. And he tipped a friend. Two of whom traded on the information. One attempted to trade on the information but was unable. In total, the conspirators avoided losses of over 768,000, all because of the initial illegal Insider Trading tip by Congressman Collins. In this chart we set some of the key allegations in the indictment against a timeline, a backdrop of the innate share price. On the evening of june 22nd, 2017, Congressman Collins was at a congressional picnic. And at 6 55 he received an email from the ceo of innate informing him of the horrendous news that the drug had failed its trial. At 7 10 p. M. , congressman
collins responded to that email. So as the indictment alleges, at least at 7 10 p. M. , Congressman Collins is aware of the Insider Information. A minute later, Congressman Collins attempts to call his son. In the period of five minutes, there are six unsufficientccess. Congressman collins illegally tips his son cameron about the Drug Trial Results so that his son cameron could trade on those results. Later that evening, on june 22nd, after Cameron Collins has the illegal Insider Tradinginformation, Cameron Collins drives with his fiance to his fiances parents house. They arrive at the house at 9 17 p. M. Less than 20 minutes later, at 9 34 p. M. , the fiances mother is on the phone with her broker, beginning the process of selling her shares of innate. The next morning, on june 23rd, at 7 42 a. M. , Cameron Collins begins the process of selling his shares of innate. During june 23rd and june 26th, Cameron Collins sells approximately 1. 39 million shares of innate prior to the market close of june 26th. After the market closes, innate announces to the public that its drug had failed the trial. And the next day, the drug price, the price of innate, falls off the cliff. It drops 92 in value in a single day. This was the drop that was anticipated by the coconspirators. This was the drop in value that the coconspirators avoided by selling their shares before the public announcement. And they could only sell those shares by virtue of the initial tip of Inside Information by Congressman Collins. A case of this type and significance obviously involves the sec and the fbi. And their representatives are standing up here with me today. To my left is my good friend bill sweeney, the assistant director in charge of the fbis new york field office. And to the far left is john brosnan, the special agent in charge of the fbi new york office criminal division. The fbis work on this case was spectacular and i want to thank them for their professionalism and dedication. We work with the fbi on so many important cases, and it is always a privilege. To the left of bill is Stephanie Avakian and steve pieken, who are codirectors of the secs division of enforcement. I want to thank them and the sec for their hard work on this matter. Last, i want to acknowledge and thank the Career Prosecutors in my office handling the case. To my right is max nicholas,
damien williams, bob allen, scott hartman, and the cochiefs of our securities and Commodities Fraud Task force, tim kasulis and jason cowan. Congressman collins, who by virtue of his office, helps to write the laws of our nation, acted as if The Law Didnt Apply to him. The charges today demonstrate once again that no matter what the crime and no matter who committed it, we stand committed in the pursuit of justice, without fear or favor. I would now like to invite to the podium bill sweeney. Thank you, geoff. And good afternoon, everybody. U. S. Representative Christopher Collins sat on innates Board Of Directors for a period of more than three years, spanning the runup to the Drug Trial Announcement in mid2017. Collins himself was the companys largest shareholder. In or about the summer of 2017, a drug designed to treat a debilitating form of Multiple Sclerosis had entered the late stages of a phase ii Clinical Trial. This drug, mis416, was the only viable drug in the pipeline for innate. This is significant in that the companys value was nearly completely wrapped up in the success of the Clinical Trial and a subsequent phase iii trial. On the evening of june 22nd, 2017, collins received an email informing him that mis416 had failed its Clinical Trial. Electronic records indicate his initial shock at having received the news. The drug, once anticipated to hold billions of dollars in value, would now are the cause of significant financial loss for innate and of course its investors, many of whom shared a personal relationship with Congressman Collins. While the congressman was legally bound to keep his information confidential until the Trial Results were released to the investing public four days later on june 26th, we allege he did not. The indictment charges that collins immediately began contacting the family and fri d friends he brought into the fold. This set off a Ripple Effect in which many investors directly or indirectly connected to Congressman Collins were notified. Most of them quickly sold their shares. Innates stock price plummeted 92 on the first trading day following the public announcement. Collins conspirators saved themselves 750,000 in losses. Collins himself, having been prohibited from selling his
shares for various reasons, did not avoid a financial loss. Despite this fact, his alleged actions brought him facetoface with federal agents who had become aware of the crime that has been committed. When questioned by Law Enforcement about the alleged dealings, Congressman Collins, his son cameron, camerons fiances father steven zarsky, lied, plain and simple. Today they are charged with Insider Trading and lying to federal Law Enforcement amendmenagents. While collins may have thought that giving his family and friends was a good idea, for those in society who hold a position of trust, they need to
act accordingly and do not lie to Special Agents of the fbi. Gentlemen, your work has been exceptional. To the sec, i would like to thank stephanie and steve for your work. To our white collar branch, and to your team of Special Agents and investigators, i want to extend my personal appreciation. Some are standing in the back, in the shadows. But to nick, john, yelena and tracy, your work has been exceptional. What you do in the Community Matters and makes a difference. Thank you. I would like to invite to the podium Stephanie Avakian, codirector of enforcement at the sec. Thanks, geoff. Good afternoon. As geoff said, my name is Stephanie Avakian. Im codirector of the secs division of enforcement. Before i begin my remarks, i would also like to thank u. S. Attorney geoff berman and his prosecutors as well as the fbi
who worked on this matter for their assistance. Today, the sec filed Securities Fraud charges against congressman Christopher Collins, his son Cameron Collins, and three others, alleging that they engaged in Insider Trading ahead of Innate Imunion know thera innates announcement of a failed drug trial. T youre watching the Enforcement Officer of the sec, following the fbi and also geoff berman, the u. S. Attorney who replaced preet bharara, i believe, as a trump nominee. This is totally separate from the mueller investigations, as chuck todd was just saying. I want to bring in kasie hunt. Kasie, Congressman Collins is on the ballot. And according to new york state law, there is no way for him not to be reelected, if the voters choose to reelect him. Donald trump won that district by 59 of the vote. Chris collins was the first member of congress, completely, the first member of congress to endorse donald trump the candidate, before even Jeff Sessions did from the senate. His most loyal supporter and his Congressional Liaison during the transition. At a time when there was literally no one in the Republican Party who was holding Elective Office at the federal level who would stand next to President Trump. Chris collins is the guy who took that leap. And we know