president Donald Trump Pardons former U.S. Rep. Stephen Buyer, who was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2018 for insider trading while serving as a congressional adviser T-Mobile US Inc before its $23 billion merger with Sprint.
this White House News of the pardon was announced Friday.
According to Fox News, the White House said in a statement that Trump used his powers under Article 2, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution to issue a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to the buyer, who was found guilty of using inside information.
Stephen Buyer gets full pardon: 5 things you need to know
- The pardon frees the buyer from a 2023 federal conviction that would have resulted in 22 months in prison.
- Buyer, presiding over the House veteransIn 1998, he served as House prosecutor in former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial and was convicted by a jury after leaving office of using nonpublic inside information.
- The White House announcement recognized Baier’s “distinguished and productive” career, which also noted his service as an Indiana congressman from 1993 to 2011 and as the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General.
- according to White Housethe pardon was “fully and completely endorsed” by more than 50 current and former members of Congress.
- Republican senators were among those supporting a pardon. Roger Wicker, Lindsey Graham and former House Speaker John Boehner. Other backers include former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, former Indiana Rep. Dan Burton, former Texas Rep. Lamar Smith and former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill Jr.
Learn about Stephen Buyer’s case
The announcement ordered Acting Attorney General Todd Branch to “administer and immediately issue a pardon” for the buyer, Fox News reported.
The buyer was convicted because he claimed he had purchased shares in management company Navigant just weeks before it was acquired by one of his own clients, Guidehouse. He was later accused of secretly buying Sprint stock after learning of the company’s unannounced merger with T-Mobile.
The buyer’s legal team argued that although the buyer had earned $2.2 million in the previous year, he had been financially devastated by the cost of the lawsuit, so they argued for a sentence of home detention and community service rather than a prison sentence.
His lawyer claimed that the buyer and his spouse were forced to sell their home, apartment and two cars, and that his spouse was required to return to work at age 65.
Despite the defense’s best efforts, Berman fined the buyer an additional $10,000, sentenced him to 22 months in prison and directed him to forfeit the $354,027 he earned from the illegal transactions.
In addition, federal prosecutors asked the buyer to pay $1.4 million to cover both parties’ legal fees, but a judge denied their request.
