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Bribery conviction overturned in major North Carolina political scandal

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a bribery conviction Wednesday in one of the state's biggest political scandals, saying the judge who tried the case two years ago gave the jury bad instructions on a key element of the case.

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North Carolina insurance magnate Greg Lindberg leaves his federal bribery trial in Charlotte Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020.
By
Travis Fain
, state government reporter
A federal appeals court overturned a bribery conviction Wednesday in one of the state’s biggest political scandals, saying the judge who tried the case two years ago gave the jury bad instructions on a key element of the case.

Those instructions, regarding just what makes an “official act” under federal bribery law, led the three-judge panel on the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to unanimously vacate financier Greg Lindberg’s conviction and order a new trial.

Through a spokesperson, Lindberg sent a statement from his Alabama prison, saying he was "grateful to the Court of Appeals for recognizing this injustice." A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, which prosecuted the case, didn't immediately provide comment.

Once North Carolina’s largest political donor, Lindberg is serving a seven-year federal sentence. He was convicted in 2020 of trying to bribe North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, seeking a lighter regulatory touch on insurance companies Lindberg owned in the state.

Causey was recording their conversations for the FBI. The sting also ensnared former North Carolina U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, who chaired the North Carolina Republican Party, which Lindberg funneled money through in an effort to get it to Causey's campaign without being subject to state rules limiting direct campaign donation amounts.

Hayes pleaded guilty in the case, but only to lying to federal investigators. He took a plea deal that did not include jail time, and then was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump.

The 4th Circuit panel didn't question the basic facts of the case, but they said U.S. District Court Judge Max Cogburn gave the jury improper instructions, backing an argument Lindberg's legal team made during the trial.

Lindberg had pushed Causey to get rid of a regulator at the insurance department and replace her with Lindberg's choice. Cogburn told the jury in no uncertain terms that this constituted an "official act," which is a key element in proving a federal bribery case. The judge should have explained the law but let the jury decide for itself whether removing the regulator definitely counted as an official act, the panel said.

The decision also means a new trial for John Gray, a Lindberg consultant also convicted in the case.

The panel said U.S. Supreme Court precedent on this point, set in a 2016 decision clearing former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in a separate bribery case, is clear.

"The court clearly envisioned that it was the role of the jury to determine whether conduct constitutes an official act," 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Roger Gregory wrote in the panel's decision. Gregory was joined on the decision by senior judges William Traxler and Henry Floyd.

Causey testified in Lindberg's trial and said in a statement that he expects to do so in the retrial. He declined comment Wednesday other than to say he looked "forward to continuing to cooperate with law enforcement.”

Lindberg said in his statement that he could not "begin to describe the challenges of being separated from family and friends, from the work I care about and the communities I work closely with." He said that he has been teaching other inmates business courses during his sentence.

"And I have learned as much as I have taught," he said.

Global Growth, the Durham-based company Lindberg owns, said in a statement that its executives "are happy for Mr. Lindberg and his family."

"Everyone deserves their fair day in court, and the court's decision makes clear that Mr. Lindberg didn't have his," the company said in a statement.

Lindberg may be the subject of a second federal investigation into his business practices, and he's involved in multiple civil lawsuits that accuse him of funneling cash from his insurance companies to other businesses he owned, fueling a lavish lifestyle. The judge in one of those cases said last month that Lindberg defrauded his own insurance companies.

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