36 Facts About Steve Buyer

Stephen Earle Buyer is an American former politician who served as the US representative for, and previously the, from 1993 until 2011.

In July 2022, Steve Buyer was arrested and charged with insider trading for buying shares of Sprint and Navigant Consulting before both were acquired by other companies, which he knew through his consulting work before the information was made public.

Steve Buyer was found guilty in 2023 and sentenced to 22 months in prison.

In Congress, Steve Buyer served as one of the House managers in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999.

Steve Buyer chaired the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs from 2005 to 2007.

On January 29,2010, Steve Buyer announced he would not seek a tenth term to the House to spend more time with his wife, who has an incurable autoimmune disease.

Steve Buyer was under investigation for ethics violations with respect to the Frontier Foundation that he had founded.

Steve Buyer served three years on active duty in the Army between 1984 and 1987.

Steve Buyer was elected to the US House of Representative in November 1992, at age 33.

Steve Buyer attended The JAG School at the University of Virginia and entered US Army JAG Corps.

Steve Buyer spent his paid absence from Congress in his home in Monticello, Indiana.

In 1999, Steve Buyer served one of the House managers in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.

Steve Buyer voted for the measure and it received a majority of votes, but not the two-thirds majority needed to pass.

Steve Buyer, who interrogated captured Iraqis during the Gulf War, voted against the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, specifically the no torture amendment offered by Senator John McCain.

In June 2009, Steve Buyer became the subject of some prime-time TV news attention when he likened the physical effects of smoking tobacco to those of smoking dried, rolled lettuce or grass when taking the floor against the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

When Steve Buyer first ran for Congress in 1992, he faced three-term Democratic incumbent Jim Jontz in what was then the 5th District, comprising twenty primarily rural counties in north central Indiana.

In 2002, Steve Buyer's district was renumbered as the 4th District, made up of 12 counties in west central Indiana, after the state lost a district in the 2000s round of redistricting.

Steve Buyer had five opponents in the Republican primary, including fellow Republican congressman Brian Kerns.

In November 2004 and November 2006, Steve Buyer defeated Democrat David Sanders, who was running on a pro-veterans benefits and anti-Iraq war platform.

In November 2008, Steve Buyer defeated Democrat Nels Ackerson, spending $895,000 compared to $845,000 by Ackerson.

On January 29,2010, Steve Buyer announced his retirement from Congress.

Between January 2006 and October 2009, the most significant combined donations to Steve Buyer's campaigns came from the pharmaceutical industry and the healthcare professional industry.

In 2003, Steve Buyer created The Frontier Foundation, whose stated purpose is educational funding for college students.

Several days later, Steve Buyer said he had created the foundation, with the goal of creating a sustainable organization to award scholarships to high school seniors.

Almost all the contributions were from 20 companies and trade organizations that had interests before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Steve Buyer is a member.

Steve Buyer said the foundation would need to raise at least $1 million to become self-sustaining; it would then begin awarding scholarships.

In June 2009, Steve Buyer said "there is no connection" between his legislative actions and donations to the foundation.

The complaint was later dismissed when Steve Buyer announced his retirement from Congress.

On July 25,2022, Steve Buyer was arrested and charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading.

In March 2018, Steve Buyer attended a golf outing with a T-Mobile executive, from whom he learned about the company's then nonpublic plan to acquire Sprint.

Steve Buyer began purchasing Sprint securities the next day, and, ahead of the merger announcement, he acquired a total of $568,000 of Sprint common stock in his personal accounts, a joint account with his cousin, and an acquaintance's account.

At the trial, Karen Hensel, a television reporter, told the jury that Steve Buyer traded stocks for her to help her "catch up" financially after they had an affair.

Hensel testified that Steve Buyer did not tell her why he chose Sprint or Navigant.

Steve Buyer was found guilty of insider trading on March 10,2023.

In 2008, in Golf Digest's list of the top 200 golfers among political power brokers in Washington, Steve Buyer was ranked 32nd, with a handicap of 5.6.

Steve Buyer was hired in June 2008 as a federal affairs manager for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a major lobbying organization in Washington, DC, and the largest donor to the foundation.