April 03, 201904/03/2019

NC GOP chair indicted on multiple federal charges

RALEIGH –– Greg Lindberg, North Carolina’s largest political donor, who has been under increasing scrutiny for corruption, was indicted on Tuesday with two of his associates and with Robin Hayes, the five-term congressman turned N.C. GOP chair.

The four are accused of using large donations to Department of Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey’s campaign, hidden through back channels, to influence his decisions.

The indictment states, “The purpose of the scheme was for the defendants to unlawfully cause the COMMISSIONER to take official action favorable to LINDBERG’S companies through bribery of the COMMISSIONER.”

Commissioner Causey voluntarily forfeited $250,000 from his campaign to federal investigators, according to the indictment and had made contact with federal investigators early in 2018 to make them aware of the alleged scheme.

“In January 2018, the COMMISSIONER reported to federal law enforcement officials concerns about political contributions and requests made by GREG E. LINDBERG and JOHN D. GRAY. The COMMISSIONER agreed to cooperate with the then-initiated federal investigation, and did so in the ensuing months.”

The other two men, who were associates of Lindberg, are John Palermo and John Gray. Palermo is vice president of Special Projects at Eli Global and chairs the Chatham County GOP. Gray is listed simply as a consultant for Lindberg in the indictment.

Charge 1 accuses the four men of “Honest Services Wire Fraud,” by using wire communications to “deprive North Carolina and the citizens of North Carolina of their intangible right to the honest services of the COMMISSIONER.”

When Lindberg suggested using the N.C. GOP as the channel through which to pay Causey, Hayes is quoted in the indictment as saying, “[M]y concern, any large amount like that is gonna draw attention, nothing wrong with it, but someone will see it and start asking questions..”

Later in the conversation recorded in the indictment though, Hayes confirmed he would approve the transfer, “Whatever you all want to do, we’ll do.” And later, “All I’m doing is raising a couple points that are my obligation –– have you thought of this –– but when you say do it, that’s easy, that’s easy…. Alright, I’ll get ‘er done.”

The very next day, the N.C. GOP gave $230,000 to Causey’s campaign. Hayes is also charged in the indictment with bribery and three separate counts of providing false statements to FBI when asked about the transfers.

The state Republican Party released a statement later on April 2, attributed to state party counsel Josh Howard, in response to the developments.

"Early this morning, the North Carolina Republican Party was made aware of several indictments surrounding the conduct of a major donor to both major political parties and two of his associates. The Party has been cooperating with the investigation for several months, including staff members providing statements and responding to various document requests. The Party, which has its day to day operations managed by professional staff under the direction of the NCGOP Central Committee, remains fully operational and focused on its mission at hand."