Trump pardons former US congressman convicted of securities fraud

President Donald Trump has pardoned former U.S. Representative Stephen Buyer, an Indiana Republican, who was convicted of securities fraud for engaging in insider trading in 2018 as a T-Mobile US consultant ahead of a $23 billion merger with Sprint.



The proclamation, issued on Thursday and announced by the White House on Friday, gave no specific rationale for the pardon other than to assert that Buyer's service as a U.S. Army judge advocate general and member of Congress "was distinguished and highly productive."



It also said that Trump, in granting Buyer a "full, complete and unconditional pardon," was acting on the "advice and recommendation" of 52 current and former members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives listed in the proclamation.



Buyer served in the House as a Republican from Indiana between 1993 and 2011 before working as a corporate consultant. He was found guilty in March of 2023 on four counts of securities fraud, and was sentenced in September of that year to 22 months in prison.



Prosecutors said at trial that Buyer bought Sprint stock after learning from a T-Mobile executive that the telecommunications companies were in merger talks in 2018 and made illegal trades again the following year.