GOP Congressman Charged With Insider Trading Appeals Ruling

(Bloomberg) -- A Republican congressman charged with insider trading is appealing a judge’s decision that he can’t review materials he says would show that investigators violated a constitutional provision limiting official inquiries into legislative matters.

Christopher Collins, from New York, was charged last year with trading on non-public information about Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd., an Australian biotechnology company. He was arrested in August 2018 along with his son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron’s fiancee. All have pleaded not guilty.

A judge ruled this month against the request by Collins, who claims that seizures of evidence from his staff by law enforcement authorities violates the Speech or Debate Clause, which protects members of Congress from arrest and prosecution based on their political views. The appeal could delay his criminal trial, which is scheduled for Feb. 3.

The case is U.S. v. Collins, 18-cr-567, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey

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