A former US congressman sentenced to prison for an illegal stock tip about an Australian biotech company has successfully argued the coronavirus pandemic made life behind bars too dangerous for him.
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Chris Collins, 69, was scheduled to begin his 26-month sentence on April 21 at a prison camp attached to South Carolina's Estill medium-security correctional facility.
US District Court Judge Vernon Broderick on Wednesday agreed to delay Collins' start date until June 23.
"Mr Collins is older than 65 and has additional risk factors, which place him at a high risk of contracting and suffering severe illness from COVID-19 if exposed to the virus," Collins' lawyers wrote in the letter to the judge.
"It would be particularly dangerous for an elderly person with underlying health conditions like Mr Collins to report for incarceration right now in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic that is ravaging the United States."
Collins, a wealthy New York businessman elected to the House of Representatives in 2012, was one of the first members of Congress to back Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
He was also a strong supporter of Innate Immunotherapeutics, a small Australian Stock Exchange listed biotech firm with offices in Sydney and Auckland developing a drug that, if successful, would cure multiple sclerosis.
Collins bought almost one-fifth of Innate's stock, sat on its board of directors and his son Cameron and daughter Caitlin were among the company's top 20 shareholders.
On June 22, 2017, Collins was at a congressional picnic on the White House lawns when he received a confidential email from Innate announcing clinical trials for the multiple sclerosis drug failed.
Collins alerted Cameron who sold approximately 1.391 million shares of Innate stock and avoided approximately $US570,900 in losses.
Innate's stock price dropped 92 per cent on the first trading day following the public announcement of the drug trial failure.
Cameron Collins tipped off three others, including his fiancee's father Stephen Zarsky, and they avoided approximately $US186,620 in losses.
After initially vowing to fight the charges, Collins entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and false statement charges and was sentenced on January 17.
Cameron Collins and Zarsky were sentenced to home confinement.
Collins' lawyers cited a New York Times story describing how the "coronavirus is spreading quickly in America's jails and prisons, where social distancing is impossible and sanitiser is widely banned, prompting authorities across the country to release thousands of inmates in recent weeks to try to slow the infection, save lives and preserve medical resources".
Australian Associated Press
