Ryan removes indicted GOP lawmaker from House Energy and Commerce Committee

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday said Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) has been removed from his post on the House Energy and Commerce Committee as a result of the lawmaker’s indictment on insider trading charges.

Collins was arrested and charged with federal securities fraud related to an Australian pharmaceutical company of which he had been the largest shareholder.

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“While his guilt or innocence is a question for the courts to settle, the allegations against Rep. Collins demand a prompt and thorough investigation by the House Ethics Committee,” Ryan said in a statement. “Insider trading is a clear violation of the public trust. Until this matter is settled, Rep. Collins will no longer be serving on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.”

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) backs the Speaker’s decision to remove Collins from the committee, a Scalise spokesman told The Hill.

According to the indictment, Collins’s son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins’s fiancée, are also being charged.

The Buffalo-area congressman turned himself in to the FBI and is slated to appear in court later in the day, NBC News reported.

An Office of Congressional Ethics report released in 2017 stated there is “substantial reason to believe” he shared nonpublic information about the Australian pharmaceutical company.