Rep. Ed DeLaney: Is Steve Buyer an honorable Hoosier congressman?

Stephen Buyer, a lawyer, was once referred to as honorable since he represented one of Indiana’s congressional districts from 1993 to 2011.

In 2023 he was convicted of insider trading in a federal court in New York. He served time in a federal prison, was fined and ordered to forfeit over $350,000 in what was determined to be ill-gotten gains.

He was found to have traded securities on inside information that was not available to common investors. So as of that 2023 verdict he was no longer honorable.

This month he received a federal pardon from President Donald Trump. Buyer then interrupted his celebrations to insult the Justice Department and the jury system.

You will need to decide for yourself whether he becomes honorable again.

Both civil and criminal charges had been brought against Buyer at the behest of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which defends the integrity of our securities markets.

Politico reported that the commission asserted that Buyer had spread the profits among friends and relations.

During the trial phase, Buyer’s lawyer suggested that his client would be “quickly vindicated.” The jury disagreed. They heard Buyer’s testimony and apparently didn’t accept his story.

Buyer’s appeals also failed, including one turned away by the U.S. Supreme Court just weeks ago.

Luckily for him, Trump was able to take time away from wars and monuments to pardon Buyer.

Was this the vindication Buyer had hoped for? Whatever it was, it also was an opportunity for Buyer to insult a jury and the Justice Department.

Buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution,” apparently explaining the jury verdict by claiming that the jurors were all Democrats! I doubt that that excuse was brought before the courts.

Buyer feels he did not have a jury of his peers. Apparently, he has found one peer in the person of Donald Trump.

Trump spared us from any explanation for granting this pardon. He did remark that Buyer’s service in the military and Congress was “highly productive.” Could he have been alluding to Buyer’s role in pressing for the impeachment of Bill Clinton?

Buyer cited that role as being the reason that Biden’s Justice Department prosecuted him some 25 years or so later. Talk about Democrat officials bearing a grudge! If that was “weaponizing” the justice system, the weapon was a rusted muzzle-loaded rifle.

Buyer has not been without friends. A number of congressmen including our own Marlin Stutzman had asked for this pardon in a letter campaign going back more than a year. Trump apparently waited while hoping the Supreme Court might bail Buyer out. To date there has been little or no publicity as to whether Buyer had advocates other than his former colleagues to bring this alleged weaponization to Trump’s attention. 

Buyer may be one of a dying breed. The flow of pardons is in danger of slowing. Trump may not need to issue many more pardons for those convicted of white-collar crimes. He has essentially shut that effort down by hollowing out the Justice Department and diverting its shrunken resources to other matters. 

If you sympathize with Buyer as a victim, I have three suggestions. First, ask yourself whether Buyer has benefited after all from his government service. Second, ask Trump to restart his victimization fund with Buyer as a beneficiary. Third, I suggest that you ask Gov. Braun to make Buyer a Sagamore of the Wabash. 

Given his tendency to make excuses, perhaps Buyer should open a whine bar.• 

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DeLaney, an Indianapolis attorney, is a Democrat representing the 86th District in the Indiana House of Representatives. Send comments to [email protected].

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