Trump Grants Steve Buyer Full Pardon After 2023 Conviction
President Donald Trump granted steve buyer a full, complete, and unconditional pardon on Thursday, wiping out the 2023 federal conviction that had carried a 22-month prison sentence. The White House said the pardon directs Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to administer and effectuate the immediate issuance of a certificate of pardon for Buyer.
The pardon reaches a former Republican Indiana congressman who was found guilty by a jury of operating off nonpublic, insider information after he left office. The White House described Buyer’s career as “distinguished and highly productive” and cited support from more than 50 current and former lawmakers.
Buyer’s 2023 conviction
Buyer’s federal case centered on trades tied to nonpublic information. Prosecutors said he bought stock in a management company called Navigant just weeks before one of his clients, Guidehouse, acquired it, and also bought shares of Sprint after learning privately about its unannounced merger plans with T-Mobile.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said Buyer obstructed justice by giving the court false explanations for why he made the trades. The conviction brought the 22-month prison sentence that Trump’s pardon now erases.
White House pardon order
The White House proclamation tied the pardon to Buyer’s record as a judge advocate general in the U.S. Army and his 1993–2011 tenure as a U.S. representative from Indiana. It also noted that he chaired the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and served as a House prosecutor during former President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial.
Trump’s move followed a “complete and total endorsement” from more than 50 current and former lawmakers, including Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Roger Wicker, former House Speaker John Boehner, former Sen. Rick Santorum, former Rep. Louie Gohmert, former Rep. Dan Burton, former Rep. Lamar Smith and former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill Jr.
Legal effect for Buyer
The pardon removes the federal conviction and the prison sentence attached to it. Buyer’s lawyers had pushed for home confinement and community service instead of prison, saying litigation costs had financially ruined him and forced him and his wife to sell their home, condo and two cars.
They also said his wife had to re-enter the workforce at age 65. With the pardon in place, the punishment that followed the 2023 verdict no longer stands, and the certificate of pardon is the next document the White House order calls for.
