In a massive scandal, RINO Steve Buyer, a congressman from Indiana, was convicted of insider trading and sentenced to 22 months in prison and required to pay hundreds of dollars in fees after he used his political power to get ahead financially, leading to increased concerns about insider trading in Washington.
For background, on September 19, 2023, Former Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) was convicted of four counts of securities fraud after he engaged in what the Department of Justice described as multiple “insider trading schemes,” with the New York Post reporting that Buyer’s fraud had made over $320,000 for himself, relatives, and a woman with whom he was having an affair at the time.
In a press release published by the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said of Rep. Buyer, “Stephen Buyer was convicted by a jury of twice engaging in insider trading,” adding, “He abused positions of trust for illicit personal gain, and today he faced justice for those acts. No insider trader is above the law, and we will continue to bring those who undermine the fairness and integrity of our markets to justice.”
Moreover, the press release from the DOJ confirmed that Rep. Butyer had received confidential information about the massive T-Mobile and Sprint merger prior to its occurrence on April 29, 2018, and that he “breached his duty of confidentiality to T-Mobile and misappropriated that information by purchasing shares of Sprint across several brokerage accounts, including his own accounts, an account held jointly with his cousin, and an account in the name of a close, personal friend.”
Importantly, prior to his conviction, Rep. Buyer claimed that he lived by his Indiana hometown’s “honor system,” saying during his hearing, “My life has been good acts. It’s all I’ve ever done.” In addition, the New York Post reported that Buyer argued that he was innocent during his trial, saying that the so-called “honor system” he followed was “how I’ve lived all my life.”
As is to be expected, Buyer’s conviction led to increased speculation about insider trading in Washington, with the spotlight shining specifically on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. For example, Joe Rogan pointed out that the former House Speaker has “never made more than $175,000 a year, but she’s worth 100-something million dollars. How does that happen?”
Answering his own question, Rogan said, “Corruption. It only happens through corruption, and it’s transparent, legal corruption. It’s very strange.” Likewise, legal experts David Axelrod and Hannah Welsh wrote that Pelosi “may be the most prolific trading member of Congress,” adding that she and her husband “have similarly faced rising scrutiny over their trading patterns, which have resulted in significant personal financial gain.”
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In addition, Axelrod and Welsh pointed out that according to a New York Times study conducted in 2022, 13 lawmakers on both sides of the isle “reported that they or immediate family members had bought or sold shares of companies that were under investigation by their committees between 2019 and 2021,” and that “44 of the 50 members of Congress who were most active in the markets bought or sold securities in companies over which their committee assignments could give them some degree of knowledge or influence.”
Watch coverage of Steve Buyer’s conviction:
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