When Rep. Chris Collins was indicted on federal insider trading charges in August, his re-election campaign spent some big money, according to campaign finance reports filed this week. 

Collins only raised $32,755 in the third quarter of 2018, which includes the months of July, August, and September. He raised $105,790 in the previous quarter.

On August 8th, the indictment charging Collins was made public. The campaign finance report shows ‘Collins for Congress’ continued to operate. It filed a disbursement for a fundraising lunch at the Buffalo Brew Pub in Amherst that day. Later on the same day, the campaign paid $7,895 to Monarch Air Group, a private jet charter company. Natalie Baldassarre, a campaign spokesperson, confirmed Collins used Monarch to fly back to Buffalo after his arraignment.

“Throughout my time in Congress, I have followed all rules and all ethical guidelines when it comes to my personal investments,” Collins said inside a room at the Embassy Suites in Downtown Buffalo that night.

The report shows his campaign spent $1,559.94 at the hotel.

Despite announcing he was suspending his campaign just three days later, Collins resumed campaigning in September.

On August 11th, Collins campaign reported an expense of $30,980 paid to Baker Hostetler, a law firm which is handling Collins’ legal defense. In the third quarter, the campaign paid more than $40,000 to Baker Hostetler.

When asked about the nature of the funds paid to the law firm, Collins’ campaign spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre said, “The campaign will continue to pay the Ethics Committee legal expenses, and the congressman will continue to personally finance his legal fees for the criminal case.”  

Collins’ Democratic challenger Nate McMurray spent money after Collins was indicted as well. In the days following August 8th, his campaign finance report shows he spent $10,300 on media consulting, $2,669 for general campaign consulting, and $3,000 for campaign strategy consulting.

A poll released Tuesday by the Siena Research Institute showed the race between Collins and McMurray is practically a dead heat, with Collins holding a 46-43 edge. That is within the margin of error.