President Trump has pardoned former Rep. Stephen Buyer, who was convicted on four counts of securities fraud in 2023 for engaging in an insider trading scheme.
The Indiana Republican served almost two years in prison for making illegal stock trades based on what he learned as a consultant for T-Mobile U.S. ahead of the 2018 Sprint merger. He was ordered to pay over $350,000 in forfeiture, plus a $10,000 fine.
The “full, complete, and unconditional pardon,” dated Thursday and announced by the White House on Friday, cited Mr. Buyer’s service as a U.S. Army judge advocate general and his “distinguished and highly productive” tenure in the House.
It also said Mr. Trump’s pardon was based on the “advice and recommendation” of 53 current and former members of Congress.
An April 2025 letter, shared by Mr. Trump and signed by dozens of former congressional Republicans, said Mr. Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” because of his involvement as a House prosecutor at former President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment.
“Like you, Mr. President, Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted by the Biden Administration,” they wrote.
Five current House Republicans — Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ken Calvert of California, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Pete Sessions of Texas — wrote another letter that pardoning Mr. Buyer would bring justice.
Mr. Buyer, 67, maintains his innocence, saying that it was “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit,” adding that the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution.”
He served in the House between 1993 and 2011 before working as a corporate consultant and was found guilty in March 2023.
At his trial, prosecutors said Mr. Buyer bought Sprint stock by using nonpublic information obtained through his consulting and lobbying work to make profitable trades.
Prosecutors said he attended a golf outing with a T-Mobile executive in 2018, learned about plans for T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion merger with Sprint and began purchasing Sprint stock the next day, making over $100,000.
Prosecutors said that the following year, Mr. Buyer traded ahead of a public announcement that his client, Guidehouse, was acquiring Navigant Consulting, generating roughly $227,000.
