Why isn’t the SEC requiring Collins and the two tippees to pay civil penalties? Why isn’t Collins jointly and severally liable with the tippees for disgorgement and pre-judgment interest? Why isn’t the DOJ seeking any money?
The SEC has a long history of going hard after high-visibility insider traders, such as Martha Stewart, to deter others. As a congressman, Chris Collins is about as high-visibility as an inside-trader can be. True, he may go to prison — as Stewart did — and he is enjoined from future insider trading, and barred from acting as an officer or director of any public company.
But he’s 69 years old, so the injunction and bar are largely meaningless. Why is he off the hook for the money?
