JUST IN: Former GOP Congressman Sentenced To 22 Months In Prison

A former Republican congressman from Indiana who was one of the leading voices calling for former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment will now serve 22 months in prison for insider trading.

Stephen Buyer, who represented Indiana’s 4th and 5th districts between 1993 and 2001, was sentenced Wednesday after being convicted for profiting off unpublicized information about various stocks he traded in the years following his public service. In addition to prison time, Buyer was ordered to forfeit over $400,000 earned from his trades and pay a $10,000 fine. Prosecutors had previously asked for Buyer to receive up to $1.4 million in fines to cover the government’s cost of litigation, but U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman ruled against them.

In his sentencing, Judge Berman noted that Buyer repeatedly lied to the court when testifying about his stock trading, a factor that was considered during sentencing.

“Stephen Buyer was convicted by a jury of twice engaging in insider trading. 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,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement Tuesday.

Assuming Buyer cannot negotiate a delay, the former congressman will report to prison on November 28th. His attorneys previously asked that he be sentenced to home confinement and community service.

In a plea for leniency, Buyer’s attorney’s told Judge Berman how Buyer, who once made as much as $2.2 million per year, has been forced to sell most of his assets including multiple properties in order to pay his legal bills. They added that his wife, age 65, will be forced to return to the workforce rather than retire.

As a Gulf War veteran, Buyer was elected on a platform of serving his fellow service members and worked his way up the House ladder to lead House Veterans Affairs. He was one of the leading prosecutors in House Republicans’ impeachment of President Clinton who at the time was accused of lying under oath about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.