WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump issued a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to former Indiana Representative Stephen Buyer on Friday, June 5. The White House announced the pardon that day.
Buyer was found guilty in March 2023 on four counts of securities fraud and received a sentence of 22 months in prison in September 2023. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal of the conviction in May.
The pardon proclamation stated that his service as a U.S. Army judge advocate general and member of Congress "was distinguished and highly productive." The proclamation also stated that the pardon was granted on the advice and recommendation of 52 current and former U.S. senators and representatives. Individuals listed as endorsing the pardon included Senator Lindsey Graham, former House Speaker John Boehner, U.S. Representative Marlin Stutzman, former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, Dan Burton, Luke Messer, and Ed Pease.
Prosecutors stated that he purchased Sprint stock after learning from a T-Mobile executive that the companies were in merger talks in 2018. He worked as a T-Mobile U.S. consultant that year ahead of a $23 billion merger with Sprint. Prosecutors said he earned more than $100,000 from the Sprint trades.
Prosecutors said he made additional illegal trades in 2019, earning more than $200,000 from purchasing Navigant Consulting Inc. stock before its acquisition by Guidehouse. They sought three years in prison, stating that he had abused his clients' trust and lied on the stand. He testified at his trial and denied trading on inside information.
He served as a Republican representative from Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011. After leaving Congress in 2011, he worked as a corporate consultant. He served as a member of President Trump's 2016 transition team and also served as one of the House managers in the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
President Trump previewed the pardon in a May 31 post on Truth Social. Buyer said, "I have maintained my innocence and was wrongfully convicted in New York before an all-Democrat jury. I was, in effect, a political prisoner. This pardon corrects a politically motivated prosecution." More than half of Trump's pardons in the first year of his second term were for individuals convicted of white-collar crimes.