WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 he left office. 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 the illegal gains, and pay a $10,000 fine. He was released in 2025. The
Supreme Court in May rejected Buyer’s appeal without comment or noted dissent. In granting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon,” Trump cited Buyer’s career as a judge advocate general in the Army and in the House that was “distinguished and highly productive.” The pardon was dated Thursday and released by the White House late Friday. Buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that it was “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that 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 requesting a presidential pardon for Buyer, a lawyer and Gulf War veteran who left office in 2011. He was a House prosecutor at Democratic President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial and in 2016 he served on Trump’s transition team focusing on veterans’ issues. A letter signed by more than 40 former Republicans in Congress said Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” because of his involvement in Clinton’s
trial. “Like you, Mr. President, Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted 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. 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 the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later. The Constitution gives a president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes. The pardons do not erase a recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as act of mercy or justice.
Stephen Buyer, Trump pardon, insider trading, Supreme Court, Indiana congressman, T-Mobile Sprint merger, Navigant, Guidehouse, White House pardon
So he was in prison for inside trading and now Trump just says nope? Seems like a slap to everyone else.
I didn’t even know this guy until today. The headline makes it sound like he was innocent, but didn’t the Supreme Court reject it? If they rejected it, how is it “politically motivated” unless the courts were all wrong.
Deep state?? Lol every time someone gets pardoned they say deep state. Also I saw somewhere he was a judge advocate so like… can you just switch roles and get out of insider trading automatically or what.
This whole thing sounds messy. Like they say he was releasing letters and Gulf War veteran and “distinguished” and all that, but he still did trades around a merger, right? The AP part about not erasing the record… so what, he’s just free but still a criminal on paper? I’m confused.