NEW YORK – Chris Collins got some poignant advice from the judge who sentenced the disgraced former Erie County executive and congressman to 26 months in prison on insider trading charges.
The judge's message? You can go home again. What's more, you should.
"I understand it is difficult to go back to the Buffalo area," U.S. District Court Judge Vernon S. Broderick told Collins, according to the court reporter's transcript of Friday's sentencing. "I encourage you that you go back because it is clear you have folks there that are supportive of you. I get it, you have folks who maybe aren't. But, by the same token, those folks I think have to respect the fact that you will have paid your debt to society.
"Again, you don't have to listen to me but I hope that you do," Broderick continued. "You might find it helpful in the long run."
People are also reading…
The judge showed his sympathetic side after most reporters rushed out of the courtroom to tweet out the news of Collins' sentence – and after Collins tearfully explained that he fled Buffalo after pleading guilty last Oct. 1.
"I left Buffalo, I went to Florida," Collins said. "I have not been back and I am leaving again tomorrow. I cannot face my constituents. What I have done has marked me for life."
Collins went on to explain uncomfortable moments in metro Buffalo where people came up to him in public and said they felt sorry for him.
"It's awkward to the point I can't go home," said Collins, a four-term Republican lawmaker from Clarence who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to the FBI. "At least where I am somewhere where no one knows me I'm not faced with that. It is awkward and it is not right for the other folks."
Hearing all of that, Broderick indicated that Collins should look at the criminal case against him as a life lesson.
"Although it sounded like it, this is not your obituary and you have your future ahead of you, and the only thing I can say to you is that you have to turn this – make some good come out of this bad situation," the judge said. "I recognize it is tragic for you. It is tragic for your family. But it is not your obituary."
Collins himself had used that word that the judge repeated in describing the letters of support that former colleagues, associates and employees had sent the judge.
"As I read these letters, to some extent I thought I was reading my eulogy, my obituary," Collins said. "And, in fact I was, as far as my life is concerned right now."
Collins then went on at length in describing the devastating impact his crimes – passing an inside stock tip to his son Cameron and then lying about it – had on his family as well as his own life. He seemed especially distraught that he had violated the Boy Scout's oath, which starts with the words "on my honor."
By doing so, Collins said he had ensured that after a lifetime of work with the Boy Scouts, he could never be associated with the group again.
"I have tarnished my reputation as a distinguished Eagle Scout," he said, sobbing. "You cannot be a felon and be involved in scouting, which is my life."
What's more, Collins said his son can't be involved in scouting anymore, either.
Cameron Collins acted on his father's stock tip, saving himself $570,000 in the process, and is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Cameron Collins' future father-in-law, Stephen Zarsky, also traded on that inside information and will be sentenced Friday.
Hearing the former congressman discuss being barred from the Boy Scouts, the judge indicated he hopes that's not true.
"I can understand in some circumstances not wanting having convicted felons involved with young children," Broderick said. "But I can also understand where there are some lessons to be learned. And it's sort of surprising to me that, at least in some degree, although you couldn't be perhaps a troop leader or something like that, that there isn't something there, something else that could be done.
"So," the judge added, "I wish you luck."
