A former U.S. congressman who was one of President Trump’s first supporters has been sentenced to two years and two months in prison for helping his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses.
The sentence for Christopher Collins was announced late Friday afternoon in federal court in Manhattan.
Prosecutors said Collins should receive a stiff sentence of nearly five years in prison. They said the Republican continued work as a congressman from the Buffalo area and lied to investigators to try to dodge responsibility for his crime.
Defense lawyers cited the age of their 69-year-old client and his contrition in saying he should be spared prison.
Collins officially resigned on October 1, 2019 and pled guilty to the charges.