CHARLOTTE, N.C. – An insurance magnate who was once a major political donor in North Carolina is in federal custody after pleading guilty in connection with what prosecutors call a $2 billion scheme to defraud insurance regulators, policyholders and others through a host of companies from which he skimmed funds for personal gain.
Greg E. Lindberg, 54, of Tampa, Florida, entered a plea Tuesday in Charlotte before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Keesler to one count of conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering to commit, according to legal documents.
Lindberg, who was indicted on 13 charges in February 2023, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on the money laundering charge and five years on the other conspiracy charge, according to a news release from the US Department of Justice.
Lindberg, who previously lived in Durham, N.C., was already awaiting sentencing after he and an associate were convicted by a federal jury in May of attempting to bribe North Carolina’s elected insurance commissioner to secure preferential treatment for his insurance business set. The two were initially convicted on two counts in 2020, but a federal appeals court overturned those convictions and ordered new trials.
A document signed by Lindberg and government attorneys that served as the factual basis for Tuesday’s plea said that from no later than 2016 through at least 2019, Lindberg and others conspired to engage in crimes related to insurance activities, bank fraud and investment advisor fraud . He and others also tried to deceive the state Insurance Department and other regulators by evading regulatory requirements, concealing the condition of his companies and using insurance company funds for themselves, according to a news release.
It all resulted in companies Lindberg controlled investing more than $2 billion in loans and other securities with his own affiliates, and Lindberg and co-conspirators laundering the proceeds of the scheme, the government said. The 2023 indictment alleged that Lindberg personally benefited from “forgiving” more than $125 million in loans to himself from the insurance companies he controlled, the news release said.
“Lindberg created and exploited a complex web of insurance companies, investment firms and other business entities to engage in millions of dollars in circular transactions. Lindberg’s actions have harmed thousands of policyholders, misled regulators and created enormous risks for the insurance industry.” U.S. Attorney Dena J. King for the Western District of North Carolina said. The FBI and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission were also involved in the investigation.
There was no immediate response to emails sent Wednesday about Tuesday’s plea to an attorney for Lindberg and a website related to Lindberg’s welfare and leadership activities.
A sentencing date has not yet been set. Lindberg, who surrendered to U.S. marshals on Tuesday, asked that he be held at a halfway house in Tampa before being sentenced. Kessler has scheduled another hearing on the matter next week. Following his first bribery conviction in 2020, a judge sentenced Lindberg to more than seven years in prison.
Lindberg had given more than $5 million to state and federal candidates and committees since 2016, favoring both Republicans and Democrats.
The U.S. Department of Justice said one of Lindberg’s top executives is still awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in late 2022 in a related case to conspiring with Lindberg and others to defraud the United States in connection with a scheme to moving money between insurance companies and other companies Lindberg owned.
Some of Lindberg’s insurance companies have declared bankruptcy and are in the process of restoring their financial health, the Justice Department said.
North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said in a news release Wednesday that he and his state agency would continue to work with federal prosecutors to ensure that “any money recovered through the restitution and forfeiture process will be used to help victims of to reimburse the policyholders.”
Jurors determined that Lindberg and a former adviser tried to bribe Causey in the late 2010s. Causey was not accused of wrongdoing; he alerted authorities and recorded conversations that served as the basis for the charges against Lindberg and three others in 2019.