RALEIGH — North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey is urging President Donald Trump not to consider a pardon for Greg Lindberg, the insurance company executive who was convicted in 2020 on federal charges linked to bribery and wire fraud.
While no pardon for Lindberg has yet been announced by Trump, Causey proactively sent a letter to the president on the matter just before Christmas.
“Mr. Lindberg’s criminal conduct was not incidental, technical, or victimless,” Causey wrote in his letter. “It was deliberate, sustained, and directly aimed at corrupting a state regulatory system charged with protecting the public in order to enrich himself.
“During an 18-months-long investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Lindberg was lawfully recorded on a wire attempting to bribe me, in my official capacity as North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance, to remove a senior department official who had identified and exposed serious financial improprieties within Mr. Lindberg’s insurance enterprises.”
Near the conclusion of the letter, Causey again argued against a pardon.
“Clemency is most compelling when it corrects a clear miscarriage of justice or shows mercy where the law has operated too harshly. Neither condition applies here,” wrote Causey. “Mr. Lindberg received due process, extensive judicial review, and every protection afforded under the Constitution. His convictions reflect accountability, not excess.”
In a social media post, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also expressed support for denying a pardon for Lindberg.
Lindberg, an insurance executive with offices based in North Carolina, was initially convicted in March 2020 on federal charges of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and bribery related to programs receiving federal funds. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.
The case stemmed from Lindberg’s attempts to bribe Causey to remove a deputy commissioner overseeing regulation of Lindberg’s insurance companies. Lindberg allegedly was offering millions in campaign donations in an attempted quid pro quo with Causey.
As mentioned in his letter to Trump, Causey wore a wire for the FBI, recording the bribery attempts, resulting in the arrest and charges against Lindberg, as well as associates like former North Carolina Republican Party Chair Robin Hayes, Lindberg consultant John Gray and associate John Palermo. Hayes was pardoned by Trump at the tail end of his first term.
The 2020 conviction was overturned in June 2022 by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals due to improper jury instructions, and Lindberg was released from prison after serving 633 days of his 2020 sentence.
Following the conviction being overturned, Lindberg and Gray were retried. A federal jury convicted the two men again on the same charges in May 2024, resulting in Lindberg now facing up to 30 years in prison.
Separately, Lindberg pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States in November 2024, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The charges included wire fraud, insurance business fraud, investment adviser fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The DOJ said the charges were linked to a “$2 billion scheme” in which Linderberg allegedly misused funds for personal use by defrauding insurance companies and policyholders.
Lindberg is still awaiting sentencing in both cases. His attorneys have continued to file motions and court proceedings in the matter.
Causey’s predecessor, Wayne Goodwin, was not implicated in the bribery case. Goodwin repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or favors exchanged related to Lindberg and was never accused of any wrongdoing in the federal bribery investigation or trials.
While heading up the Department of Insurance, Goodwin had given Lindberg a special agreement in 2014. That agreement allowed Lindberg’s insurers to invest up to 40% of their assets in affiliated companies, which is above the typical 10% industry standard. When Causey took over, he reduced the amount.
Lindberg was also a major donor to Goodwin’s 2016 reelection campaign for Insurance commissioner and later gave money to the North Carolina Democratic Party while Goodwin was chair.
Direct contributions from Lindberg personally to Goodwin’s 2016 campaign were approximately $9,500 to $10,000, the maximum allowed under state rules that year. Dozens of Lindberg executives and associates also made up to $125,000 in contributions to Goodwin in 2016.
Lindberg reportedly donated between $350,000 and $450,000 to the N.C. Opportunity Committee, a PAC that ran pro-Goodwin ads.
While Goodwin served as chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Lindberg personally donated $500,000 to the party’s general fund in 2018, and Eli Global donated another $250,000.
Additionally, when Goodwin left office, he briefly consulted for two Lindberg companies but stated in 2019 that his consulting work had “stopped the previous year.”
Following donations to the N.C. Democratic Party, campaign finance records show that between 2017 and 2018, Lindberg donated $1.5 million to the North Carolina Republican Party.
The largest recipient of Lindberg contributions during that period was former Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, with $2.4 million through two PACs supporting his campaigns.
In 2018, N.C. Congressman Mark Walker’s Victory Committee also received $150,000 in 2018, while a smaller direct contribution was made to former N.C. Congressman Patrick Murphy ($2,500). The year prior, former state Rep. David Lewis received $5,200, as did Sen. Brent Jackson.
