Greg Lindberg moves to halt $1.65B restitution order, claims he ‘overpaid’

Greg Lindberg is asking a federal court to halt ongoing asset sales tied to a $1.655 billion restitution order, arguing that a proper accounting under federal restitution law shows he owes nothing.

In fact, Lindberg claims he overpaid by about $1.27 billion.

Lindberg was sentenced last month to 12 years in prison for running a $2 billion fraud and attempting to bribe the North Carolina insurance commissioner.

On May 28, District Judge Max O. Cogburn accepted the report of the special master and ordered Lindberg to pay restitution of $1.655 billion. Cogburn ordered the following restitution amounts to the life insurance and other companies once owned by Lindberg.

Cogburn's order declares the amount "due and payable immediately." The order is enforceable as a federal judgment and authorizes liens against Lindberg's property.

In a motion filed Tuesday, Lindberg challenged the restitution order and sought to prevent further liquidation of his assets while the dispute is resolved.

Lindberg has not responded to repeated inquiries from InsuranceNewsNet.

Lindberg and his co-conspirators caused companies he controlled in North Carolina, Bermuda, Malta, and elsewhere to invest more than $2 billion in loans and other securities with his own affiliated companies and laundered the proceeds of the scheme, the government has said.

Lindberg directed the scheme and personally benefitted from the fraud in part by “forgiving” more than $125 million in loans to himself from the insurance companies that he controlled. Lindberg used his ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle, buying private jets, mansions and a 200-foot luxury yacht, court documents say.

Exceeded the recommendation

While Cogburn accepted the arguments put forth by the special master, attorney Joseph Grier of the law firm Grier Wright Martinez PA, his order increased the restitution amount by $30 million. Grier's report proposed a restitution figure of approximately $1.625 billion.

Lindberg's attorneys contend that Cogburn acted before fully considering the objections filed by the defense. In a memorandum accompanying the stay request, they argue that mandatory offsets totaling nearly $2.9 billion reduce the restitution obligation to zero and show an overpayment of roughly $1.24 billion.

According to the filing, the offsets are supported by pleadings from restitution recipients, business records, and legal precedent governing restitution calculations under the federal Mandatory Victims Restitution Act.

Continuing to sell Lindberg's assets while the restitution calculation remains disputed would improperly allow recovery beyond any actual losses suffered by victims, the memo argues. The filing cites federal appellate and Supreme Court decisions that limit restitution awards to actual losses and require a causal connection between a defendant's conduct and claimed damages.

"The relief Mr. Lindberg seeks is also necessary to prevent further destruction of the assets that, on the present record, the Court is being asked to liquidate to fund a phantom restitution obligation," the memo argues.

Poor investment decisions alleged

The defense also argues that assets currently being liquidated have declined in value because of decisions made during insurance rehabilitation proceedings that followed Lindberg's removal from control of affiliated companies.

According to the filing, companies associated with Lindberg grew to an estimated enterprise value of $3.4 billion during his ownership and generated more than $300 million in annual earnings.

The motion contrasts that performance with the results achieved under rehabilitation, alleging that more than $165 million was paid in fees, $137 million was lost through bond portfolio decisions and several potential transactions that could have generated substantial proceeds were rejected.

The filing points to a 2018 letter of intent from alternative asset manager Ares Management and a 2019 proposal from Oaktree Capital Management as evidence that potential transactions existed that could have provided sufficient funds to satisfy policyholder obligations. Lindberg's attorneys argue that decisions to reject those transactions broke any chain of causation linking subsequent losses to Lindberg's conduct.

The motion seeks three forms of relief:

First, Lindberg asks the court to stay further asset sales until it rules on his objections to the restitution calculation.

Second, he seeks the return of what the filing describes as "Primary Restitution Assets," arguing that restitution has already been fully satisfied.

Third, as an alternative, Lindberg requests the return of eight smaller affiliated companies that court filings have previously described as having no material value to the rehabilitation estates and not being slated for sale.

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InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.