STRAPPED FOR CASH

GOP Rep. Chris Collins Used Campaign Funds to Pay for Insider Trading Legal Fees

It’s not illegal to use campaign funds for legal defense—but his constituents may not appreciate it.

Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY), who was charged with insider trading yesterday, used campaign funds to pay for his legal bills while facing inquiries from congressional ethics investigators. According to Federal Election Commission filings, Collins had been paying up to $60,000 a month since July 2017 to the law firm Baker Hostetler, which is not breaking any campaign finance laws. A spokesperson from the firm confirmed to CNBC that the payments were in relation to Office of Congressional Ethics and House Ethics Committee inquiries into Collins. The firm is representing Collins in his insider-trading case, and the congressmen has paid over $85,000 to the firm so far this year. This comes as Collins said he’s remaining in the midterm ballot later this year despite being accused of sharing nonpublic information about Innate Immunotherapeutics to his son, allowing him to dump his shares before the stock lost value. Collins said the allegations were “meritless” and he pleaded not guilty.