Former Indiana Republican congressman Stephen Buyer was charged Monday in an insider trading case. Buyer represented Indiana's 4th congressional district — which included West Lafayette and Lafayette — from 1993 to 2011.
According to a news release from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Buyer formed a consulting firm after leaving congress in 2011 that provided services to clients including T-Mobile. In March 2018, the release says, Buyer attended a golf outing with a T-Mobile executive and learned of the company's plans to acquire Sprint before the public merger announcement.
Buyer, the release says, allegedly began purchasing Sprint securities the next day and eventually acquired $568,000 worth of stock in his personal accounts, a joint account shared with his cousin and an acquaintance’s account. After news of the merger leaked in April 2018, Buyer saw an immediate profit of more than $107,000.
The release also says that in 2019, Buyer purchased more than $1 million of Navigant Consulting securities before the public announcement that the company would be acquired by Guidehouse LLP — one of Buyer's consulting clients. Buyer allegedly spread those purchases across multiple accounts, and sold nearly all the shares on the day the acquisition was publicly announced, netting a profit of more than $227,000.
While in congress, Buyer served on committees with oversight over the telecommunications industry.
Contact Jakob at jlazzaro@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @JakobLazzaro.
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