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Legal Analysis of New Indictment Against Rep. Chris Collins

United States Congressman Chris Collins was indicted on a series of insider trading charges in August 2018.  Nearly a year after the initial indictment, federal prosecutors have recently re-filed the case against Rep. Chris Collins, leading to a new “superseding” indictment. The new indictment against Rep. Chris Collins excludes three charges that were included in 2018’s indictment.

These latest developments in Rep. Chris Collins’ insider trading case have been covered extensively by news outlets throughout Western New York. Attorney Barry Covert was interviewed by The Buffalo News, WGRZ 2 on Your Side, and WIVB News 4 to provide legal analysis on the new indictment. Over the course of these interviews, Mr. Covert’s analysis addresses several aspects of the updated charges, including:

  • Why did federal prosecutors convene a new grand jury in the insider trading case against Rep. Chris Collins?
  • What is the significance of the three charges that have been removed from the new indictment?
  • What is the Speech and Debate clause and how does it impact the case against Rep. Chris Collins?
  • Has the overall nature of the case against Rep. Chris Collins changed with the new indictment?


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Federal Investigation of Foreign Influence on Domestic Research

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are teaming up to investigate the veiled influence of foreign entities that are involved with United States domestic research. The implications could be vast; with the potential to dismantle research projects and lead to significant civil and/or criminal investigations.

The NIH and FBI are acting upon the suspicion that foreign entities are covertly funding and coordinating with domestically funded research; thereby obtaining confidential grant application information, shaping research funding decisions, duplicating our studies, usurping our findings and intellectual property, as well as perhaps illegally collecting state secrets and classified scientific information.


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