Former Clinton impeachment prosecutor sentenced for insider trading
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Stephen Buyer in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in 1999. Photo: Luke Frazza/AFP via Getty Images
Former Republican Indiana Rep. Stephen Buyer was sentenced Tuesday to 22 months in prison for insider trading, per the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Driving the news: Buyer provided false explanations for his Sprint and Navigant trading schemes, which U.S. District Judge Richard Berman found at sentencing to constitute obstruction of justice, per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
- The former congressman had denied any wrongdoing, but was convicted after a March trial on four counts of securities fraud for engaging in two insider trading schemes.
- He has indicated that he will file an appeal against his sentence, Reuters reports.
What they're saying: "[Buyer] abused positions of trust for illicit personal gain, and today he faced justice for those acts," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "No insider trader is above the law, and we will continue to bring those who undermine the fairness and integrity of our markets to justice."
The big picture: Prosecutors said that on two separate occasions, Buyer bought stock in companies that he learned would soon be acquired, bringing him more than $300,000 in profit.
- After serving both Indiana's 4th and 5th districts in Congress from 1993 to 2011, Buyer created his own consulting firm.
- While consulting for T-Mobile in 2018, Buyer learned that the company planned to acquire Sprint, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said that before the information was released publicly, Buyer purchased more than $500,000 in shares of Sprint stock. Buyer made more than $126,000 from the stock after the merger was publicly announced, per a criminal complaint.
- In 2019, while providing services to the consulting firm Guidehouse, Buyer allegedly learned that the company was planning to acquire the consulting firm Navigant. He bought more than $1 million in shares of Navigant stock, and made more than $223,000 from his Navigant trades, prosecutors said.
Zoom out: Buyer was a nine-term congressman from Indiana who served as a House prosecutor during then-President Bill Clinton's 1998 impeachment trial.
- He's also a lawyer and veteran of the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War
Go deeper: Former Rep. Stephen Buyer charged with insider trading
Editor's note: This article has been updated with further context.
