Only a handful of people donated to help re-elect Rep. Chris Collins, the New York Republican indicted for insider trading, according to third quarter campaign finance filings.
Collins, who is running for a fourth term in office, received contributions from only three individuals within New York's 27th Congressional District between July 1 and Sept. 30 for a total of $80, NBC-affiliate WGRZ first reported. His campaign overall, however, fundraised $33,000 ahead of November's midterm elections thanks to political action committees.
The disclosed contributions are dwarfed by the $105,000 Collins raised in the second quarter, but his campaign still has more than $1 million cash in hand, according to WGRZ. Collins temporarily suspended his campaign after he was indicted in August by federal prosecutors in New York.
Collins was charged based on phone calls he made to his son Cameron Collins in 2017 shortly after Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited, of which he is the largest stockholder, advised him of a failed drug trial. Federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York allege Cameron Collins used the information to make timely trades and to tip off others, including his future father-in-law. The trades allowed them to avoid $786,000 in losses, the indictment stated.
Collins has pleaded not guilty, dismissing the charges as "meritless." He is also expected to be investigated by the House Ethics Committee after the criminal case against him wraps up.
Despite the funding shortfall, Collins holds a 3-percentage-point lead over his Democratic challenger Nate McMurray, according to a Spectrum News/Siena College Research Institute poll conducted among 490 likely voters in October.