Belinda Tasker | Australian Associated PressAugust 9, 20181:51pm
https://www.news.com.au/national/br…h/news-story/cc3679d55c390e9d7ade8a5a687e631a
*WHAT IS INNATE IMMUNOTHERAPEUTICS?
– A Melbourne-based pharmaceutical company developing cancer and fibrosis treatments
– Its shares are traded on the ASX; it is also a so-called penny stock that can be traded on the Over The Counter (OTC) Pink market in the US
* WHO IS CHRISTOPHER COLLINS AND WHAT IS HE ACCUSED OF?
– A Republican congressman who was an early supporter of Donald Trump during his run for US president; he is up for re-election this November
– He was a director on Innate’s board from 20 February, 2006 to 4 May, 2018
– Collins is accused by US prosecutors of passing on confidential information about the surprise failure of a clinical trial involving Innate’s key multiple sclerosis drug in June 2017
– He allegedly tipped off his son Cameron Collins, who is accused of passing on the information to his fiancee, her family, and friends – all of whom owned Innate shares
– They allegedly used the information to sell Innate shares to avoid losing a combined $US768,600 ($A1 million) before details about Innate’s clinical trial failure were publicly announced
– At the time, Collins was Innate’s largest shareholder with a 16.8 per cent stake in the firm
* WHO HAS BEEN CHARGED?
– Collins, son Cameron and his fiancee’s father Stephen Zarsky
– They have been charged with fraud and lying to the FBI; the charges carry maximum jail sentences of up to 20 years
– Cameron’s fiancee and her mother have agreed to settle civil charges against them; they will be fined and return their ill-gotten gains
– Cameron’s fiancee will also be suspended from working as a public accountant for five years
* HOW DID THE INSIDER TRADINING ALLEGEDLY UNFOLD?
(All times are eastern US summer time in 2017)
June 22 – Christopher Collins attends congressional picnic at the White House
* 6.55pm – He receives a confidential email from Innate’s CEO about the shock clinical trial failure
* 7.10pm – Collins replies, saying the failure “makes no sense”; 15 seconds later he calls his son Cameron, who owned more than five million Innate shares
* 7.16pm – Collins and his son talk for six minutes on the phone while Cameron is at home with his fiancee, who bought 40,464 Innate shares on June 19
* 9.17pm – They go to her parents’ home
* 9.28pm – Lauren’s mother logs into her brokerage account and unsuccessfully attempts to place an order to sell her 50,000 Innate shares
* 9.58pm-10.04pm – 30,350 of her shares are sold on the ASX
* 10.26pm – Innate requests a trading halt on the ASX, saying it had received the clinical trial results; Innate’s shares continue trading on the OTC Pink market
June 23
* Cameron, his fiancee and her mother, father, uncle and her father’s friend sell more than one million Innate shares
* Cameron is the only one left with Innate shares, which he continues to sell off in tranches over three days
June 26
* Cameron contacts a friend who had bought Innate shares in February 2017 and tells him to sell, which he does
* 7.11pm – Innate announces to the ASX the clinical trial’s negative results, prompting a 92 per cent plunge in its share price