Prosecutors want stiff sentence for NC billionaire Greg Lindberg’s ‘brazen’ bribery scheme
Greg Lindberg should spend 14 years in prison for attempting to bribe Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey in 2018, federal prosecutors said in a Wednesday court filing.
In May, a federal jury in Charlotte convicted Lindberg, a billionaire Durham businessman, and associate John Gray of two corruption charges in what has been described as one of North Carolina’s worst government scandals. The verdict followed a three-week trial in which Causey was the star witness.
Prosecutors recommend that Gray serve a shorter sentence of 10 years.
In return for the insurance commissioner removing a regulator whom Lindberg found meddlesome, the businessman offered to channel $2 million into Causey’s re-election campaign.
Eventually, the conspirators decided to mask the money as donations to the state Republican Party, which would then funnel it to Causey, a scheme that then-GOP Chairman Robin Hayes agreed to assist, court documents show.
Causey, a Republican, alerted the FBI. As negotiations with Lindberg, Hayes and Gray continued, he wore a government wire. The resulting recorded conversations became the cornerstone of the prosecution’s case.
In their sentencing memo for Hayes, prosecutors recommended probation, citing the five-term former congressman’s remorse and willingness to plead guilty before trial. Under federal guidelines, Hayes faces a punishment ranging from probation to six months in prison.
On Wednesday, however, the prosecutor’s filing served as a further public rebuke of Lindberg and Gray.
“The defendants offered a $2 million bribe to buy the elected Commissioner of Insurance and to choose their own regulator,” Lindberg’s prosecutors said in a withering sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday afternoon with U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn.
“They attempted to cloak their scheme with the appearance of legitimate campaign contributions. And even now, after being caught, confronted with explicit recordings of their criminal conduct, and convicted at trial, the defendants have refused to accept any responsibility for their actions, instead blaming the very public official who they tried to bribe.”
Lindberg’s and Gray’s sentences, according to the prosecutors’ filing, “should reflect the seriousness of their conduct, which was as dangerous as it was brazen.”
According to the filing, the recommended punishment for Lindberg falls in the middle of the recommended sentencing range for their crimes, which is listed as between 12 1/2 and 15 1/2 years.
The prosecutors say the punishments were elevated because the conspiracy involved a bribe of more than $1.5 million and that the target was an elected official.
Lindberg’s sentence was longer than Gray’s because he was the leader of the conspiracy and “would claim a larger share of the fruits of this bribery scheme,” the prosecutors wrote.
Cogburn has final say on punishment. He will announce the sentences for Lindberg, Gray and Hayes on Aug. 19.
Lindberg’s chief attorney, Brandon McCarthy of Dallas, Texas, did not immediately respond to an Observer email seeking comment.
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Prosecutors want stiff sentence for NC billionaire Greg Lindberg’s ‘brazen’ bribery scheme."
