In October 2018, WRAL.com reported that Durham, North Carolina’s business owner Greg Lindberg went from an unknown on the political donor spectrum “to the state’s largest campaign donor over the last two years” and “the target of at least one federal grand jury subpoena seeking a trove of documents about his business dealings.”
A subpoena issued last month to the state Department of Insurance, which regulates a number of Lindberg’s companies, indicates that a federal investigator with a background in white-collar crime and an FBI forensic auditor are involved. The subpoena came from U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Andrew Murray’s office in Charlotte.
“An official criminal investigation of a suspected felony is being conducted by an agency of the United States and a federal grand jury,” the cover letter states. An attached notice states that the “subpoena relates to an investigation of drug offenses, crimes against financial institutions, or money laundering crimes.”
The reported multiple subpoenas included documents going back to 2014 and, it was reported, Lindberg’s political donations amounted in excess of $5 million spanning both throughout both the Democrat and Republican political state parties and candidates.
For full content and context read WRAL report.
Fast forward five months.
On Monday, Chairman of NCGOP Robin Hayes announced he would be stepping down June 8 as chairman, “citing mobility issues due to a recent hip surgery as well as a ‘strong bullpen of Republican Party leaders.'”
On Tuesday, via Axios, “Robin Hayes, Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, surrendered to authorities on Monday following a 5-month FBI investigation into a $2 million party donation from business owner Greg Lindberg, who has been implicated in multiple white collar crimes, WBTV reports.”
Details: $240,000 of Lindberg’s donation to the NCGOP was forwarded to North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey’s campaign in what WBTV investigative reporter Nick Ochsner described as a bribe. Lindberg also made a 6-figure contribution to the North Carolina Democratic Party. Per Ochsner, the commissioner has not yet been charged.
Axios
Charlotte’s WBTV reported a federal grand jury indictment was unsealed out of the Western District of North Carolina US Attorney’s Office for “multiple people in connection with an ongoing investigation involving donations made to the North Carolina Republican Party.”
NCGOP Chairman Robin Hayes, who spent a decade in Congress representing a district that stretched from the Charlotte area to Fayetteville, surrendered himself to authorities and made a first appearance at the US Courthouse in Charlotte on Tuesday.
The charges center around a wealthy Durham businessman named Greg Lindberg, who has been under the microscope of federal investigators for white collar crimes related to his business empire and, later, for contributions he made to politicians in North Carolina.
WBTV
For full content and context read WBTV report.
According to the NC Attorney’s General Office press release the indictment “outlines a brazen bribery scheme in which Greg Lindberg and his coconspirators allegedly offered hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions in exchange for official action that would benefit Lindberg’s business interests,”
The indictment charges Greg E. Lindberg, 48, of Durham, North Carolina, and founder and Chairman of Eli Global LLC (Eli Global) and the owner of Global Bankers Insurance Group (GBIG); John D. Gray, 68, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina and a consultant for Lindberg; North Carolina state political party Chairman Robert Cannon Hayes, 73, of Concord, North Carolina; and Chairman of a Chatham County political party and an Eli Global executive John V. Palermo, 63, of Pittsboro, North Carolina, with conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and aiding and abetting. Hayes is also charged with three counts of making false statements to the FBI.