NEW YORK — U.S. Rep. Christopher Collins pleaded guilty Tuesday to participating in an insider trading scheme and to making false statements to federal law enforcement agents when interviewed about his conduct. He had resigned from Congress on Monday.

“By virtue of his office, Christopher Collins helped write the laws of this country, but he acted as if the law did not apply to him,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in an announcement. “Today, by pleading guilty, Collins acknowledged that while he was a member of Congress he committed insider trading and then lied to the FBI in an attempt to cover it up. Today’s plea is a reminder that all citizens stand equal before the law in our criminal justice system.”

The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office accused Collins, who was on the board of drug company Innate and one of its biggest shareholders, of giving confidential information about the bad results of a drug trial to his son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron’s fiancée.

They sold the stock after learning from company officials that a multiple sclerosis drug Innate was developing had failed a critical trial meant to determine the drug’s clinical effectiveness.

Collins was attending the Congressional Picnic at the White House when he heard the bad news, prosecutors said.

Innate’s stock price crashed on the first trading day after the public announcement about the results, dropping 92 percent. Collins and the others avoided $768,000 in losses, prosecutors said.

Collins pleaded not guilty when he was indicted in 2018. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and one count of making false statements to law enforcement officials, which also carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. He will be sentenced Jan. 17.

The charges against Cameron Collins and Zarsky are merely accusations, and they are deemed innocent unless proven guilty.

Six Republicans already have declared interest in running for Collins’ seat in the 27th District, in eight upstate counties between Buffalo and Rochester, the Buffalo News reported.

Under state law it’s too late to schedule a special election for Nov. 5, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Albany’s WAMC Tuesday.

Collins received statewide attention in 2017 when he and Rep. John Faso, from the Hudson Valley, sponsored part of a national health care reform bill to end New York’s longtime practice of charging counties for a share of the cost of Medicaid. The bill did not become law.

SEE: Republican Rep. Chris Collins Resigns Before Expected Guilty Plea