Rep.
Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) has been arrested and charged with insider trading by the
Justice Department.
Collins, President Trump's top defender on
Capitol Hill, turned himself in to the
FBI on Wednesday morning, according to multiple reports.
An indictment from a grand jury also charges Collins's son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of his fiancee.
The indictment relates to securities of Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotechnology company where Rep. Collins served on the board.
Prosecutors allege that Collins gave nonpublic information about drug trial results to his son to help him "make timely trades in Innate stock and tip others."
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York will hold a press conference at noon on Wednesday to announce the charges against Collins.
The U.S. Attorneys Office declined to offer more details to The Hill.
"We will answer the charges filed against Congressman Collins in Court and will mount a vigorous defense to clear his good name," Collins's attorneys said in a statement posted on his website.
"It is notable that even the government does not allege that Congressman Collins traded a single share of Innate Therapeutics stock. We are confident he will be completely vindicated and exonerated."
The statement indicated that Collins would address the charges later on Wednesday.
An Office of Congressional Ethics report earlier this year found that Collins may have violated federal law by sharing nonpublic information with investors of the Australian pharmaceutical company.
Multiple
GOP lawmakers told The Hill last year that Collins had boasted about making money for other members of Congress by urging them to invest in the company, of which he is the largest stockholder.