Chris Collins pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to commit securities fraud and making false statements, counts that each carry a maximum of five years in prison.
It came a day after Collins abruptly resigned his congressional seat, leaving New York's 27th District without a representative.
The now former Congressman insisted for months he did nothing wrong and would continue to fight the charges against him. He even ran a successful campaign for re-election after the news broke he was indicted on federal insider trading charges.
Collins was a board member of Innate Immunotherapeutics, the Australian biotech company that had developed a drug to treat Multiple Sclerosis. Because he was on the board and the company’s largest shareholder, prosecutors said he was notified the drug failed its latest trial before that news went public.
According to the indictment, Collins called his son Cameron who, along with others, used the information to avoid $768,000 in losses. Cameron is accused of tipping off his future father-in-law, Stephen Zarsky, who also unloaded his shares in the company before the stock plummeted.
The case is drawing national attention as Collins was the first sitting member of Congress to endorse President Trump and was once a well-known surrogate for him.
Collins is set to be sentenced January 17, 2020.