Former Rep. Chris Collins released from prison after Trump pardon
Collins, 70, in January was sentenced to 26 months in a minimum-security Florida jail for securities fraud
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former New York Republican Rep. Chris Collins was released from a Pensacola prison on Tuesday, the same day President Trump granted him and several other high-profile individuals pardons.
PRESIDENT TRUMP GRANTS SEVERAL HIGH-PROFILE PARDONS
The Federal Bureau of Prisons updated Collins' records to reflect his release just three days before Christmas.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Collins, 70, was sentenced in January to 26 months in a minimum-security Florida jail for securities fraud.
Federal investigators said Collins provided non-public information about biotechnology company Innate – where he sat on the board – to his son Cameron, tipping him off in June 2017 that a drug the company was working on had failed a clinical trial so Cameron could sell his shares before the stock price went down.
Collins was among 15 individuals Trump pardoned; five others had their sentences commuted.
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Pardons were also doled out to two former Trump operatives – campaign advisor George Papadapoulous and attorney Alex van der Zwaan, both of whom were convicted of making false statements during Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election – as well as Duncan Hunter, a former GOP congressman from California.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Other notable pardons included those of four Blackwater guards who had been convicted in connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007.