Former U.S. Rep. Chris Collins arrives at federal court for sentencing Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, in New York. Seth Wenig | AP

A disgraced and highly emotional former New York congressman Chris Collins was sentenced Friday to 26 months in prison for an illegal stock tip that he gave his son from the White House lawn about a biopharmaceutical company's failed drug trial. The sentence from Judge Vernon Broderick in U.S. District Court in Manhattan came 14 months after the Republican Collins won re-election to the House for a fourth term in his Buffalo-area district while under indictment in the case and claiming he had done nothing wrong. "My life has been shattered. My reputation has been shattered," Collins said through tears before he received his sentence. "But mostly my family has been shattered." Collins, clad in a dark blue suit and matching tie, said nothing as he left the courthouse, walking straight into a van that was parked outside.￼ Collins must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on March 17. His attorneys requested that Collins be sent to a federal prison camp in Pensacola.

The judge sentenced Collins to 26 months each for one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of lying to the FBI. Broderick ruled that the terms would run concurrently. Collins was also ordered to pay a $200,000 fine and one year supervised release. Federal sentencing guidelines had suggested a prison term of between 46 and 57 months for the wealthy entrepreneur Collins, who served on the board of the drug company whose information he illicitly shared with his son, Cameron. But prosecutors asked Broderick to impose a prison sentence of nearly five years, saying that in committing his crime and later lying about them to the FBI and the public, "Collins came to embody the cynical idea that those in power who make the laws are not required to follow them." Defense lawyers had requested a sentence of probation for Collins, 69, who was the first member of Congress to endorse President Donald Trump's first bid for the White House. During the sentencing hearing, a sobbing Collins expressed shame and regret and pleaded for mercy for his son. Cameron Collins, who also pleaded guilty in the case, is due to be sentenced next Thursday. "I have no excuse. I have tarnished my reputation," Collins said. "People feel sorry for me. They shouldn't." He apologized to his former colleagues in Congress, his former constituents and his friends in his community. And he repeatedly lamented the impact his actions have had on his family. "It's hard to look at my wife, who got her credit card purchase declined because I'm her husband," Collins said of his spouse, who sat behind him in the courtroom." Collins's attorneys acknowledged that the former congressman had made mistakes. But they maintained that he is a "fundamentally good and decent human being."