A gavel rests on its sounding block with a several law books and a justice scale out of fucus in the background. A cool blue cast dominates the scene. (A gavel rests on its sounding block with a several law books and a justice scale out of fucus in t
iStock

An ex-congressman has been sentenced to jail in connection with a pair of insider trading schemes.

A U.S. district court judge ordered Stephen Buyer, a one-time Republican congressman for Indiana, to serve 22 months and pay US$350,000 in forfeiture after he was convicted on four counts of securities fraud.

The charges stemmed from a pair of insider trading incidents involving companies to which Buyer served as a consultant in his post-political career.

U.S. authorities alleged that after Buyer left Congress in 2011 and began a consulting firm, he engaged in a pair of insider trading schemes using information about pending merger deals that he obtained while working as a consultant.

According to evidence presented in court, Buyer traded with advance knowledge of the 2018 merger of telecom giants Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. after learning of the planned deal from T-Mobile executives.

And in 2019 he allegedly traded on inside information about the pending acquisition of Navigant Consulting Inc. by consulting and advisory firm Guidehouse.

In 2022 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Buyer in connection with his trading ahead of these deals, and he was convicted earlier this year.

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