US ex-congressman jailed 2 years for insider trading

[NEW YORK] Former US lawmaker Chris Collins, President Donald Trump's first supporter in Congress, was sentenced Friday to more than two years in jail for his role in an insider trading scheme.

The New York Republican was arrested and indicted in 2018 for insider trading of stock in an Australian biotech firm, including sending illicit tips from the White House lawn during a congressional picnic.

The judge in the Southern District of New York's US District Court rejected pleas for probation and sentenced Collins, 69, to 26 months on counts of insider trading and lying to investigators, sentences that are to run concurrently, an officer of the court said.

He was also fined US$200,000.

Collins won re-election in November 2018 despite the indictment hanging over him.

Last September he announced he was resigning from the House of Representatives, and the following month changed his plea to guilty.

AFP