Global Courant
Steve Buyer, a 64-year-old former congressman from Noblesville, Indiana, was convicted of insider trading in March by a Manhattan court, Buyer was convicted in connection with the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, as well as other stock purchases he made on a later time. Federal sentencing guidelines say he should serve about three years in prison, but his lawyers want him to avoid any jail time.
A former Indiana congressman will not be allowed to spend time in jail following his insider trading conviction, his lawyers told a judge Wednesday.
Steve Buyer, 64, of Noblesville, Indiana, was convicted by a jury in Manhattan federal court in March on four counts of securities fraud following a two-week trial for stock transactions he did while working as a consultant and lobbyist after he finished with his service in Congress from 1993 to 2011.
He was convicted in connection with insider trading related to the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and stock purchases he made at a later date with the management consulting firm Navigant when his client Guidehouse would take over in a deal that was made public weeks later.
Federal sentencing guidelines say he should serve about three years in prison, though judges often deviate from recommendations.
FORMER GOP REP. STEVE KOPER CONVINCED OF INSIDER TRADING
His lawyers wrote in a statement ahead of a July 11 sentencing that the Republican should only serve house arrest and community service.
The lawyer and veteran of the Persian Gulf War once chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and served as a prosecutor in the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton in 1998.
Buyer’s lawyers told the judge who will sentence their client that Buyer has suffered significantly as a result of the prosecution and conviction.
The case has “irreparably damaged his reputation, tarnished his performance and long service and continues to bring disgrace and humiliation to him and his family,” the lawyers said.
U.S. Representative Steve Buyer announces that he will not be seeking re-election at a news conference in Indianapolis on January 29, 2010. (AP Photo/AJ Mast, File)
They said he lost all of his consulting clients after being sued and his two businesses “crumbled,” erasing the average annual gross income of about $2.2 million that existed from 2018 to 2021. Now they are not generating any income, the lawyers said.
GOP REP. STEVE KOPER RETIRSES DURING ETHICS RESEARCH
As a result of the conviction, he will lose his bar licenses in Virginia and Indiana and will never again be able to advise Fortune 500 companies or other companies where he could have access to inside information, they said.
“Procedural costs were also significant, which led Mr. Buyer and his wife to sell most of their assets, including their house, apartment and two cars,” the lawyers said. His wife will have to return to work at age 65, she added.
In addition, four financial institutions have closed or frozen his bank accounts, including his investment accounts, and two credit card companies have closed his accounts, the lawyers said.
The lawyers said a sentence without jail time would not be unusual, as more than a third of those convicted of insider trading charges who previously had clean criminal records face no jail time. And more than 70 percent of sentences lasted less than two years, they said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
At trial, prosecutors said his clients were motivated to share lucrative secrets with him because they wanted his help as an advisor.
Defense attorneys claimed he was scholarships buff who conducted research that led to legal profitable trades. Buyer testified on his own behalf.
Authorities say the buyer illegally earned more than $320,000 for himself, family members and a woman with whom he was having an affair.
