Steve Buyer, former Congressman for Indiana’s 4th and 5th districts, was convicted last week on four counts of securities fraud. He will face sentencing on the convictions on July 11.
Buyer was found guilty of making stock purchases using insider information he obtained while working as a lobbyist and consultant following his political career. The jury agreed with prosecutors that the former politician profited by purchasing $568,000 in common stock of cell phone giant Sprint just prior to its 2018 merger with T-Moblie, tipped off by a T-Mobile executive during a golf outing.
Buyer also was found to have profited from insider information involving a company merger between consulting and lobbying firms Navigant and Guidehouse. In all, Buyer profited by $320,000 for himself and his family using the information.
An insider trading conviction may result in up to 20 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $5 million. U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman, of New York’s Southern District where the trial was held, will decide Buyer’s sentence.
Buyer entered politics in 1992 after serving as an attorney in the U.S. Army Reserve during the Gulf War. He originally campaigned on military and veterans’ health issues and was elected over incumbent Jim Jontz. He then served five terms in Congress, retiring in January 2010; four days after an ethical complaint was brought against him by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, alleging possible improprieties concerning Buyer’s non-profit Frontier Education Foundation. That complaint was dismissed in July 2010.