Congressman sentenced to 22 months for insider trading

Stephen Buyer, a former member of Congress from the United States, was found guilty of securities fraud and received a 22-month prison sentence for trading on insider knowledge he acquired while serving as a consultant for T-Mobile US Inc. This ruling was made by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in New York after a trial earlier this year in which Buyer was found guilty on four charges of securities fraud. Prior to pursuing a career in corporate consulting, Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana, served in the US House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011.

The Allegations

Due to his acts behind T-Mobile US Inc.’s $23 billion merger with Sprint in 2018, Buyer was found guilty and sentenced. The prosecution said that Buyer had made unlawful trades based on privileged information obtained by a T-Mobile executive, who had informed Buyer about the merger talks and Buyer had bought Sprint stock. In addition, he carried on with same illegal actions the next year.

Prosecutors claim that Buyer made a significant profit from these illicit transactions, taking home more than $100,000 from the Sprint transactions and more than $200,000 from buying stock in Navigant Consulting Inc. prior to Guidehouse’s 2019 acquisition of the company.

Plans for Buyer’s Defense and Appeal

When Stephen Buyer took the testimony during the trial, he angrily denied having traded on insider knowledge. He remained adamant about his innocence and said he would appeal.

Prosecutors’ Request for Sentencing

In their court documents, the prosecution had requested a three-year prison term for Buyer. They said that he had betrayed the confidence his clients had placed in him by acting in this way, and they also charged him with lying during his own defense testimony.

Request from Buyer for House Confinement

Stephen Buyer, on the other hand, had asked the court to sentence him to house arrest rather than jail time. He highlighted his prior experience serving in the US military and Congress as justifications for thinking about alternatives to jail.