President Donald Trump has issued a pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who served nearly two years in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information after he left office.
Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2023 for trades made while working as a consultant and lobbyist. He was ordered to forfeit more than $350,000, representing the amount of the illegal gains, and pay a $10,000 fine. He was released in 2025.
In granting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon,” Trump cited Buyer’s career as a judge advocate general in the Army and in the House that was “distinguished and highly productive.” The pardon was dated Thursday and released by the White House late Friday.
Buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that it was “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit.” He maintains that he is innocent.
Buyer, 67, was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and illegal trades in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.
The Constitution gives a president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes. The pardons do not erase a recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as act of mercy or justice. So far in his second term, the president has flexed that power to bestow clemency on many of his political allies and prominent public figures.
Below is a list of pardons or commutations that have been granted during Trump’s second term so far, according to the record maintained by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney.
Pardons Issued In Trump’s Second Term
January 2025
- About 1,500 people charged or convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol
- Ross William Ulbricht
- Terence Dale Sutton, Jr.
- Andrew Zabavsky
- Joan Bell
- Coleman Boyd
- Joel Curry
- Jonathan Darnel
- Caroline Davis
- Eva Edl
- Chester Gallagher
- Herb Geraghty
- William Goodman
- Dennis Green
- Lauren Handy
- Paula Harlow
- John Hinshaw
- Heather Idoni
- Jean Marshall
- Christopher Moscinski
- Justin Phillips
- Paul Place
- Jay Smith
- Paul Vaughn
- Bevelyn Beatty Williams
- Calvin Zastrow
- Eva Zastrow
- James Zastrow
February – March 2025
- Rod R. Blagojevich
- Brian Kelsey
- Thomas Edward Caldwell
- Devon Archer
- Benjamin Delo
- Gregory Dwyer
- Arthur Hayes
- HDR Global Trading Limited
- Trevor Milton
- Samuel Reed
April–May 2025
- Michele Fiore
- Paul Walczak
- Scott Howard Jenkins
- James Callahan
- Kevin Eric Baisden
- Mark Bashaw
- Julie Chrisley
- Todd Chrisley
- Kentrell D. Gaulden
- Michael Gerard Grimm
- Michael Ray Harris
- James M. Kernan
- Marlene Mary Kernan
- Tanner J. Mansell
- John R. Moore, Jr.
- John G. Rowland
- Charles Overton Scott
- Alexander Sittenfeld
- Earl Lamont Smith
- Charles Lavar Tanner
- Jeremy Young Hutchinson
November 2025
- Preemptive pardons for individuals for offenses related to 2020 election
- Glen Casada
- Cade Cothren
- Robert Henry Harshbarger, Jr.
- Troy Lake
- Michael McMahon
- Darryl Strawberry, Sr.
- Michelino Sunseri
- Joseph Lewis
- Suzanne Kaye
- Joseph Schwartz
- Daniel Edwin Wilson
December 2025
- Juan Orlando Hernandez
- Enrique Roberto Cuellar
- Imelda Rios Cuellar
- Timothy Joseph Leiweke
- Tina Peters
January 2026
- Adriana Isabel Camberos
- Andres Enrique Camberos
- Danny Preston Conrad
- Arie Eric De Jong, III
- Russell John Flint, Jr.
- Julio M. Herrera Velutini
- Kenneth Caprist Kelly
- James Michael Klos
- David Levy
- Hollie Ann Nadel
- Mark T. Rossini
- Wanda Vazquez Garced
- Terren Scott Peizer
February 2026
- Travis Henry
- Timothy S. Smith
- Nathaniel Newton, Jr.
- Joseph Klecko
- Jamal Lewis
- Elite Diesel Service, Inc.
- Dr. Billy A. Cannon
Commutations Issued in Trump’s Second Term
March 2025
- Jean Pinkard
- Jason Galanis
- Ozy Media, Inc.
- Carlos Roy Watson
May 2025
- Lawrence S. Duran
- Larry Hoover
- Marian I. Morgan
- Garnett Gilbert Smith
- Anabel Valenzuela
- Imaad Shah Zuberi
- Edward Ruben Sotelo
- Joe Angelo Sotelo
October – December 2025
- George Anthony Devolder Santos
- Changpeng Zhao
- David Gentile
January 2026
- Jimmy Ray Barnett
- Zechariah Benjamin
- Angela Wannette Cupit
- Jacob Deutsch
- Juan Mercado, III
- Angela Reynolds
- Andre Donnell Routt
- James Phillip Womack
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
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