Trump pardons former US congressman Stephen Buyer in insider trading case
The White House released the pardon late Friday night, following a Supreme Court rejection of Buyer’s appeal and sustained advocacy from Republican lawmakers who argued the prosecution was politically motivated.
United States President Donald Trump has issued a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana. The pardon, dated Thursday and released by the White House late Friday night, ends the legal proceedings against Buyer, who was convicted in 2023 of insider trading related to stock trades made while working as a consultant and lobbyist after leaving office.
Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $350,000 in illegal gains, alongside a $10,000 fine. He served nearly two years in prison before his release in 2025. The conviction stemmed from trades connected to the $26.5bn merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, as well as illegal trades in the management consulting firm Navigant when its client, Guidehouse, was set to acquire it.
In granting the pardon, Trump cited Buyer’s service as a judge advocate general in the US Army and his tenure in the US House of Representatives, describing his career as “distinguished and highly productive”. The decision follows the US Supreme Court’s rejection of Buyer’s appeal in May, which occurred without comment or noted dissent.
Buyer has maintained his innocence throughout the process. In a statement, he said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and described it as “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit”. He characterised the legal battle as a result of his role as a House prosecutor at the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton in 1998.
Support for the pardon was bolstered by letters shared by Trump on Truth Social on May 31. One letter, signed by more than 40 former Republican lawmakers in April 2025, argued Buyer was “targeted by the deep state”. A second letter, from five current House Republicans in June 2025, urged the president to bring justice to the case. The US Constitution grants the president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes, though such acts do not erase a recipient’s criminal record.
