Former Republican Congressman Accused Of Insider Trading In NYC: SEC

NEW YORK CITY ? A former congressman from Indiana used secret knowledge of upcoming telecommunication deals to buy more than $1.5 million in stocks and reap tidy profits, according to documents filed in a New York City federal courthouse.

Stephen Buyer faces insider trading charges from a spate of stock buys he struck as a consultant after he left Congress in 2011 that netted him nearly $336,000, Securities and Exchange Commission officials announced Monday. U.S. Attorneys similarly unsealed charges against Buyer during a news conference that day.

The accusations against Buyer are among one of four inside trading cases ? which are all separate and unrelated ? unveiled in court filings that day.

But Buyer's is arguably the most prominent given his role as a former public official, Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC Enforcement Division, hinted in a statement.

"When insiders like Buyer ? an attorney, a former prosecutor, and a retired Congressman ? monetize their access to material, nonpublic information, as alleged in this case, they not only violate the federal securities laws, but also undermine public trust and confidence in the fairness of our markets," Grewal said.

Buyer, a Republican, served as a congressional representative for Indiana's Fourth District from 1993 through 2011, where he sat on committees tasked with telecommunications industry oversight, officials said.

He parlayed his knowledge of telecommunications to found a consulting firm, the Steve Buyer Group, that counted T-Mobile, among others, as a client, officials said.

SEC officials said Buyer in March 2018 attended a golf outing with a T-Mobile executive, who told him about the company's then-nonpublic plan to buy rival company Sprint.

Buyer then began to purchase Sprint stock the next day, eventually acquiring about $568,000 worth, officials said. He saw an immediate profit of nearly $108,000 after news about the merger leaked in April 2018, according to a civil complaint filed by the SEC.

Another insider trading scheme Buyer is accused of doing involves less well-known companies, but even more money, the civil complaint states.

Buyer in 2019 bought more than $1 million of Navigant Consulting, Inc., shares just ahead of a public announcement that one of his clients ? Guidehouse LLP ? would be buying it, officials said. On the day the deal was publicly announced, Buyer sold nearly all shares and profited more than $227,000, according to a release.

SEC officials filed a complaint against Buyer that seeks the repayment of his ill-gotten gains, officials said.

Read the entire Securities and Exchange Commission complaint here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.