NC GOP Chair Indicted On Wire Fraud, Bribery Charges

[struggle4progress]

April 2, 20191:26 PM ET
LAURA PELLICER
DAVE DEWITT

The chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, Robin Hayes, has been indicted on charges including wire fraud, bribery and aiding and abetting. Durham businessman and political donor Greg Lindberg, along with two of his associates, John Gray and John Palermo Jr., were also indicted. Lindberg is the owner of Global Bankers Insurance Group, headquartered in Durham, N.C.

The indictment, issued by U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, outlines how the defendants allegedly came up with a scheme "to defraud and to deprive North Carolina and the citizens of North Carolina of their intangible right to the honest services of the commissioner, an elected official, through bribery."

Lindberg has been under federal investigation for alleged financial crimes and for his contributions to North Carolina politicians ...

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/709124202/north-carolina-gop-chair-indicted-on-wire-fraud-bribery-charges

[struggle4progress]

1. NCGOP Chairman, campaign donor indicted on corruption and bribery charges

BY PAUL A. SPECHT, AMES ALEXANDER, AND WILL DORAN
APRIL 02, 2019 12:22 PM, UPDATED 1 HOUR 3 MINUTES AGO

CHARLOTTE -- A federal grand jury has indicted North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes and a major GOP campaign donor on conspiracy and bribery charges for their alleged attempts to influence N.C. Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey.

The indictment accuses Hayes, a former congressman, of trying to funnel bribe money to Causey’s re-election campaign. Hayes is also charged with three counts of making false statements to the FBI. Hayes had announced Monday that he wouldn’t seek another term as NC GOP chairman, a decision he attributed to health concerns ...

Four people — Hayes, Lindberg, John D. Gray and John V. Palermo — were charged in the case, and all four made their first appearances in court Tuesday, the same day the indictment was unsealed. The four are accused of trying to bribe Causey with $2 million in campaign contributions to get him to take actions favorable to one of Lindberg’s companies — including the removal of an insurance department employee responsible for regulating that firm ...

The indictment mentions another person in contact with Lindberg and Causey — “Public Official A” — but doesn’t name them or mention charges. Politico reported Tuesday that the official is Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Walker of Greensboro. Politico identified Walker using the indictment and records from the Federal Election Commission, the outlet reported. Between 2017 and 2018, Lindberg gave $233,600 to Walker and groups backing him ...

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article228727949.html

[struggle4progress]

2. North Carolina GOP chair, major donor charged with bribery

By EMERY P. DALESIO and GARY D. ROBERTSON
Posted: Apr. 2, 2019 8:00 am Updated: Apr. 2, 2019 6:14 pm

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ... Lindberg — largely unknown politically until his contributions started flowing heavily in 2017 — has given more than $5 million to North Carolina candidates, party committees and independent expenditure groups.

Federal prosecutors allege that between April 2017 and August, Lindberg sought to shower Republican state Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey with contributions through the state GOP and an independent committee in exchange for actions helping Lindberg's businesses. Lindberg sought, among other things, the removal of a Causey deputy responsible for examining Lindberg's Durham-based Global Bankers Insurance Group ...

Lindberg, political consultant John Gray, and John Palermo — a former county Republican chairman who was working for Lindberg's investment company Eli Global LLC — met with Causey at least five times in the winter and spring of 2018 to discuss favors and money, prosecutors said.

Lindberg's team urged Causey to hire Palermo to replace the deputy commissioner or become her boss, prosecutors said. Causey eventually refused, fearing Palermo's ties to Lindberg's company would be discovered by journalists, the indictment said. Lindberg then proposed "we recruit someone brand new to the Department with the same skill set," the indictment said ...

https://www.njherald.com/article/20190402/AP/304029831#

[struggle4progress]

3. Fallout from bribery indictment

Posted 9:17 p.m. yesterday

... Durham businessman Greg Lindberg, who is accused of trying to trade campaign cash for laxer regulation from the state Department of Insurance, gave to so many North Carolina politicians in recent years that his indictment has legislative leaders and the chairmen of both the Democratic and Republican state parties reeling. GOP Chairman Robin Hayes, who also was indicted, has given up his day-to-day duties in the party.

Still, politicians weren't ready Wednesday to say they will give back Lindberg's money ...

https://www.wral.com/wednesday-wrap-fallout-from-bribery-indictment-touches-many/18303707/

[bluestarone]

4. Proof again that RETHUGS are lowlife scum!

They will do ANYTHING for a buck!

[struggle4progress]

5. An indictment of NC political fundraising

April 3, 2019 7:49 PM
BY THE N AND O EDITORIAL BOARD

On Monday, the day before his indictment was announced, Robin Hayes said he was stepping down as chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party because of health issues. By Tuesday, the public learned that what was driving Hayes from office wasn’t only his ailments, but the ill health of North Carolina’s system of political fundraising.

The indictment handed up by a federal grand jury accuses Hayes of trying to funnel bribe money to state Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey on behalf of Greg Lindberg, a major political donor who owns a business subject to regulation by the insurance commissioner. Hayes, a former congressman, is also charged with three counts of making false statements to the FBI. Lindberg and two other people were also charged following an investigation that started when Causey, a Republican, took his concerns about attempted bribery to the FBI.

The details are still emerging and those indicted maintain they didn’t break the law. But the outlines of the case and actions that are not in dispute show a system of political fundraising that invites corruption and may be rife with it. The central problem is that while donors are limited to $5,400 in contributions to a state candidate, they can make unlimited contributions to a state political party.

That distinction encourages donors to get around individual contribution limits by giving large amounts to the party with a tacit understanding that a hefty share of that contribution will find its way to a specific candidate. That winking agreement is a constant temptation in the Democratic and Republican parties. In this case, the indictment says Hayes gave into it by helping Lindberg channel $250,000 to Causey’s campaign from contributions he had made to the state Republican Party. The trouble Hayes and Lindberg ran into, investigators say, is that their intention was revealed during calls and meetings, at least some of which Causey recorded ...

https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article228790759.html

[struggle4progress]

6. 'Could be more indictments,' Causey says

BY PAUL A. SPECHT, AMES ALEXANDER, AND BRIAN MURPHY
APRIL 03, 2019 11:57 AM, UPDATED APRIL 03, 2019 08:14 PM

... “There could be more indictments to come,” said Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, the public official who the four are accused of trying to bribe. “We don’t know what may happen. And with a case this complex and complicated, it may takes months and months and months or years to get everything sorted out.”

Causey, in an interview with The Charlotte Observer, acknowledged the existence of recorded conversations between him and political donor Greg Lindberg, associates John D. Gray and John V. Palermo, and NC GOP chairman Robin Hayes — the four men indicted for attempting to bribe Causey through campaign contributions from Lindberg funneled through the state party.

The bribery case was outlined in unsealed indictments in a federal courthouse in Charlotte on Tuesday ...

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article228779134.html

[struggle4progress]

7. Indicted donor gave money to candidates from mayor to Congress

BY ANNA DOUGLAS, DAVID RAYNOR, AND LYNN BONNER
APRIL 03, 2019 05:52 PM, UPDATED 1 HOUR 29 MINUTES AGO

... campaign finance records show Lindberg was a prolific donor to a range of politicians — from a Democrat running for mayor in Durham to Republicans running for Congress.

From 2016 to 2018, Lindberg donated just over $7.5 million to both super PACs and state and federal political committees, according to campaign finance records filed with the NC State Board of Elections and the Federal Election Commission.

The largest of those donations included $1 million in December 2017 to Truth and Prosperity Committee, an N.C. super political action committee for which Lt. Gov. Dan Forest has raised money, and a total of $1.4 million to the N.C. Republican Council of State Committee, which Forest chairs. That same committee reported in-kind expenditures of $48,582 to the Committee to Elect Dan Forest from April to November in 2018.

A Forest spokesman said Tuesday following the indictment of Lindberg that the lieutenant governor was not interviewed or subpoenaed during the investigation into bribery and conspiracy. Hal Weatherman, chair of Forest’s exploratory committee to run for governor, said Forest’s official campaign had not received contributions from Lindberg.

In a statement, Forest said of Hayes, Lindberg and others: “I know these men and consider most of them friends. I have read the indictments and they are very troubling. I believe in the presumption of innocence and thus will withhold judgment. But I agree with the rule of law and if laws were broken, then justice should be served. They are facing serious charges” ...

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article228779794.html

[struggle4progress]

8. Case should drive campaign reform

Posted Apr 3, 2019 at 6:01 PM
Updated Apr 3, 2019 at 6:01 PM

... federal indictments unveiled Tuesday contain considerable detail, some of it from surreptitious recordings of telephone or in-person conversations involving the people who were indicted and state Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, who appears to be the target of a bribery attempt ...

We’re troubled to see such a sordid saga unfolding in North Carolina politics and we hope the charges and evidence will be aired quickly in the federal courts. This has given the state GOP another grievous injury, coming right on the heels of the ballot-tampering charges that have left the 9th Congressional District without representation until new elections are completed later this year.

More important, it is a dramatic reminder of how big money is corrupting politics. Wealthy donors like Lindberg seldom make such lavish contributions for purely altruistic reasons. Big donors expect something in return, beginning with access, and often a lot more than that. If these allegations are upheld in court, this may be the biggest bribery scheme we’ve seen in North Carolina politics.

We’ll likely learn a great deal more about the case in the months to come, but we already have sufficient evidence to know that campaign finance reform is essential. Given what we’ve already learned about this case, we have little doubt that the political money game is even more out of control than we knew. It’s got to be reined in — promptly.

https://www.fayobserver.com/opinion/20190403/our-view-bribery-case-should-drive-campaign-reform

[struggle4progress]

9. Refuses to resign

By Dan Desai Martin - April 3, 2019

... In a Wednesday statement, a defiant Hayes announced he would merely hand over day-to-day responsibilities to someone else, but he will remain head of the state's Republican Party. Hayes, who served in Congress from 1999 to 2009, claimed that keeping his leadership role was "in the best interest of the party" ...

https://shareblue.com/indicted-north-carolina-gop-chair-robin-hayes-refuses-resign/

[struggle4progress]

10. These politicians also received money

Author: Benjamin Briscoe
Published: 1:13 PM EDT April 3, 2019
Updated: 6:26 PM EDT April 3, 2019

... he's donated to both Republicans and Democrats. And most of his donations went to political pacs. That makes it hard to track the money from there. But from the Triad, we are able to document that Congressman Mark Walker's campaign received the most money, $233,600. Senator Richard Burr's campaign received $5,400. And Congressman Ted Budd's campaign received $2,700 ...

https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/2-wants-to-know/these-nc-politicians-also-received-money-from-business-owner-charged-in-bribery-wire-fraud-investigation/83-29aee0cb-77fb-41d8-9112-c8603eb0dce8

[SWBTATTReg]

11. Thanks for posting all of these tidbits of news about the NC situation...interesting to note ...

that republicans have been harping about election fraud and the like, and behold, a lot of them did in NC (and some democrats too, sadly).

This very clearly shows a pattern of contributions w/ the intent to have elected officials favor a position that a particular donor desired/wanted. Again, shows the evil intent/influence of money on politics.

The book should be thrown at all parties for corruption, and penalties meted out should be the highest allowable under the law. Voters are losing their votes due to one scumbag who wanted one desirable result for his business (and damn everybody else).

[littlemissmartypants]

12. From LBN...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142296966

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142297678