NEW YORK (AP) - A federal prosecutor in New York says Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Collins gave an illegal tip that allowed his son and others to avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bio-tech stock losses.

  

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said at a news conference on Wednesday that Collins was supposed to keep secret "devastating news" he received in an email about a failed drug trial in 2017.

  

Instead, the prosecutor said congressman called his son within minutes to warn him his investment was in trouble.

  

Prosecutors in the insider trading case say the call the set off a chain of illicit tips involving the son, the father of the son's fiance and others.

  

Collins was to appear in federal court in Manhattan later Wednesday to face conspiracy, wire fraud and other counts. He's denied any wrongdoing.