Former Congressman Sentenced To 22 Months In Prison For Insider Trading

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that STEPHEN BUYER, a former Indiana Congressman, was sentenced today to 22 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman.  BUYER was previously convicted following trial of four counts of securities fraud for engaging in two insider trading schemes.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Stephen Buyer was convicted by a jury of twice engaging in insider trading.  He abused positions of trust for illicit personal gain, and today he faced justice for those acts.  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.”

According to the Indictment, evidence presented during trial, court documents, and statements made in open court:

In 2018 and 2019, BUYER engaged in two separate, but interrelated insider trading schemes to steal material non-public information that he obtained through consulting work and to place timely, profitable securities trades based on that stolen information.  First, in or about March and April 2018, BUYER purchased shares of Sprint Corporation (“Sprint”) ahead of the April 29, 2018, public announcement that T-Mobile US, Inc. (“T-Mobile”) and Sprint would merge in a deal valued at $26.5 billion.  Prior to the public announcement of the transaction by T-Mobile, executives at T-Mobile told a small, trusted group of consultants that they had retained to work on the deal, including BUYER, about the merger and directed them to keep the information confidential.  BUYER breached his duty of confidentiality to T-Mobile and misappropriated that information by purchasing shares of Sprint across several brokerage accounts, including his own accounts, an account held jointly with his cousin, and an account in the name of a close, personal friend.  Across these accounts, BUYER made more than $126,000 from the purchase and subsequent sale of Sprint stock after the merger was publicly announced. 

In or about June through August 2019, BUYER again engaged in insider trading, this time trading in shares of Navigant Consulting, Inc. (“Navigant”) ahead of Navigant’s acquisition by consulting and advisory firm Guidehouse.  As with his purchase of Sprint shares, BUYER learned through his consulting work for Guidehouse that Guidehouse intended to acquire Navigant and misappropriated that information by purchasing Navigant shares ahead of the public announcement of the acquisition.  BUYER purchased Navigant shares across several brokerage accounts, including accounts in his own name, joint accounts held with family members, and the account of the same close, personal friend whose account he used to trade Sprint shares.  In total, Buyer made more than $223,000 from his illegal Navigant trades.

BUYER testified at his March 2023 trial and provided false explanations for his Sprint and Navigant trading, which Judge Berman found at sentencing to constitute obstruction of justice.

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In addition to his prison sentence, BUYER, 64, of Noblesville, Indiana, was ordered to pay more than $350,000 in forfeiture and restitution in an amount to be determined. 

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and also thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission for its assistance.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kiersten A. Fletcher and Margaret Graham are in charge of the prosecution.