Former Indiana lawmaker Stephen Buyer received clemency from President Donald Trump after serving time in a securities fraud case related to trades made during his post-Congressional consulting work.
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has issued an apology THE Stephen Buyera former Republican congressman from Indiana who served nearly two years in prison for doing it illegal stock trading based on inside information after he left office.
The buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2023 for trades made while working as a consultant and lobbyist. He was ordered to forfeit more than $350,000, representing the amount of ill-gotten gains, and pay a fine of $10,000. He was released in 2025.
In issuing “a full, complete and unconditional pardon,” Trump cited Buyer’s career as a judge advocate general in the military and in the House, which was “distinguished and very productive.” The pardon was granted Thursday and released by the White House late Friday.
The buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that it was “terrible to be jailed for a crime I did not commit”. He maintains that he is innocent.
Trump used his Truth social media platform on May 31 to share a pair of letters seeking a presidential pardon for Buyer, a lawyer and Gulf War veteran who left office in 2011. He was a House prosecutor in the 1998 impeachment trial of Democratic President Bill Clinton, and in 2016 he focused on the Trump team’s transition issues.
A letter signed by more than 40 former congressional Republicans said Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” because of his involvement in the Clinton trial.
“Like you, Mr. President, Steve has been a victim of the law perpetrated by the Biden administration,” they wrote in the April 2025 letter.
A second letter, from five current House Republicans, said pardoning Buyer would bring justice to his case. The June 2025 letter was signed by Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ken Calvert of California, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Pete Sessions of Texas.
The buyer, 67, was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and illegal trades in management consulting firm Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to buy it in a deal disclosed publicly weeks later.
The Constitution gives a president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes. Pardons do not erase the recipient’s criminal record, but can be seen as an act of mercy or justice.
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