[The Hill] Former Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) has been sentenced to more than two years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to the FBI.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, the first sitting member of Congress to endorse President Trump's White House bid and a top former ally of his in the House, 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.
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