Former US Congressman Pardoned by Trump for Insider Trading Allegations

US President Donald Trump has issued a pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana, who served nearly two years in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information after leaving office.

Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2023 and ordered to forfeit more than $350,000 and pay a $10,000 fine. He was released in 2025. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal without comment or dissent in May.

In granting the pardon, Trump cited Buyer’s work as a judge advocate general in the US Army and as a politician in the US House. Buyer stated that the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that he is innocent of the crime for which he was convicted.

Trump shared letters requesting a presidential pardon for Buyer on his Truth Social media platform, including one signed by over 40 former Republicans in Congress who claimed Buyer was “targeted by the deep state”. A second letter, from five current House Republicans, stated that pardoning Buyer would bring justice to his case.

The US Constitution gives the president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes. A pardon does not erase a recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as an act of mercy or justice. Buyer 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 the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.

Buyer, 67, will serve no further prison time as a result of the pardon.

Source: Al Jazeera