Story was updated at 6:47 p.m.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday threw out the 2020 conspiracy and bribery convictions of a major political donor in North Carolina and his associate, declaring that the trial judge erred in his jury instructions.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, vacated the convictions and ordered new trials for Greg E. Lindberg and John D. Gray, a Lindberg consultant. The two were among four people accused of trying to give $1.5 million to Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey's election campaign in exchange for the removal of an insurance official who would be in charge of regulating Lindberg's company.
A jury when a person through a bribe seeks to deprive citizens of their right to honest services by a government official. They both received prison sentences. But the appeals court ruled that the trial judge gave jurors misleading instructions before they began deliberations.
U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn made a mistake when he said that removing a senior department official was an 鈥渙fficial act," a key element in reaching a conviction on honest services fraud. Cogburn also erred when he prevented the defense from presenting evidence to show the deputy's reassignment was not official, the appeals court said.
鈥淲e find that the district court impermissibly took an element of the crime out of the hands of the jury and violated the defendant鈥檚 Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights," Chief Judge Roger Gregory wrote in the prevailing opinion. 鈥淲e cannot conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury verdict would have been the same absent the error.鈥�
The bribery conviction also should be tossed, Gregory wrote, because Cogburn's erroneous instruction 鈥渆ffortlessly bled into the jury's consideration" of the bribery count. Senior Judges William Traxler and Henry Floyd agreed with the opinion.
Lindberg, 51, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. He's been with an estimated December 2026 release, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. It wasn't clear if a release was imminent,
鈥淚 am grateful to the Court of Appeals for recognizing this injustice,鈥� Lindberg said in a news release that also discussed his 20 months in prison. 鈥淚 look forward to returning to my life with my family, friends and community.鈥�
Federal prosecutors didn鈥檛 immediately provide a comment on Wednesday鈥檚 ruling following an email request.
Gray, 72, received a 2 1/2-year sentence. A bureau listing for John D. Gray says he's currently at a halfway house in Butner. Gray's lawyer also didn't respond to an email request seeking comment.
Lindberg, whose Global Growth Holdings company contains many companies under his control, has given more than $5 million since 2016 to North Carolina candidate and party committees and independent expenditure groups. It was a Lindberg insurance company called Global Bankers that prosecutors said would have benefited by Lindberg鈥檚 actions in seeking a new regulator in Causey鈥檚 office.
Causey wasn鈥檛 accused of wrongdoing. He alerted authorities and recorded conversations that served as the basis of the 2019 indictments against Lindberg and Gray. Another person charged was former U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, who at the time of the alleged crimes was chairman of the state Republican Party. Hayes accepted a plea deal and was sentenced by Cogburn to probation.
The federal government said that Hayes had agreed to help funnel money going to the state GOP to Causey鈥檚 2020 reelection campaign. The fourth person indicted was acquitted at trial.
Lindberg has faced other recent legal troubles. ruled that Lindberg was failing to follow through on a 2019 agreement that orders him to give up control of insurers and other companies within his business empire.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday threw out the 2020 conspiracy and bribery convictions of a major political donor in North Carolina and his associate, declaring that the trial judge erred in his jury instructions.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, vacated the convictions and ordered new trials for Greg E. Lindberg and John D. Gray, a Lindberg consultant. The two were among four people accused of trying to give $1.5 million to Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey's election campaign in exchange for the removal of an insurance official who would be in charge of regulating Lindberg's company.
A jury when a person through a bribe seeks to deprive citizens of their right to honest services by a government official. They both received prison sentences. But the appeals court ruled that the trial judge gave jurors misleading instructions before they began deliberations.
U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn made a mistake when he said that removing a senior department official was an 鈥渙fficial act," a key element in reaching a conviction on honest services fraud. Cogburn also erred when he prevented the defense from presenting evidence to show the deputy's reassignment was not official, the appeals court said.
鈥淲e find that the district court impermissibly took an element of the crime out of the hands of the jury and violated the defendant鈥檚 Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights," Chief Judge Roger Gregory wrote in the prevailing opinion. 鈥淲e cannot conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury verdict would have been the same absent the error.鈥�
The bribery conviction also should be tossed, Gregory wrote, because Cogburn's erroneous instruction 鈥渆ffortlessly bled into the jury's consideration" of the bribery count. Senior Judges William Traxler and Henry Floyd agreed with the opinion.
Lindberg, 51, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. He's been with an estimated December 2026 release, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Gray, 72, received a 2 1/2-year sentence. A bureau listing for John D. Gray says he's currently at a halfway house in Butner.
Lindberg, whose Global Growth Holdings company contains many companies under his control, has given more than $5 million since 2016 to North Carolina candidate and party committees and independent expenditure groups. It was a Lindberg insurance company called Global Bankers that prosecutors said would have benefited by Lindberg鈥檚 actions in seeking a new regulator in Causey鈥檚 office.
A spokesperson for Global Growth said it鈥檚 pleased for Lindberg and his family. Gray's attorney and a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney鈥檚 Office in Charlotte, which helped prosecute them, didn鈥檛 immediately provide a comment following email requests. Federal appeals lawyers had argued that any error by Cogburn wasn't so grave as to throw out the convictions.
Causey wasn鈥檛 accused of wrongdoing. He alerted authorities and recorded conversations that served as the basis of the 2019 indictments against Lindberg and Gray. Another person charged was former U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, who at the time of the alleged crimes was chairman of the state Republican Party. Hayes accepted a plea deal and was sentenced by Cogburn to probation.
The federal government said that Hayes had agreed to help funnel money going to the state GOP to Causey鈥檚 2020 reelection campaign. The fourth person indicted was acquitted at trial.
Lindberg is facing other legal troubles. ruled that Lindberg was failing to follow through on a 2019 agreement that orders him to give up control of insurers and other companies within his business empire.
