Greg Lindberg faces up to 30 years in prison after guilty verdict on bribery charge

Greg Lindberg, troubled financier and former owner of Colorado Bankers Life Insurance Co., was found guilty Wednesday for a second time of bribing the North Carolina insurance commissioner.

The jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts for Lindberg, 53, and consultant John Gray on the two counts they were charged with: bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, according to court documents.

Lindberg's spokeswoman did not return a message seeking comment, or whether he plans to appeal the verdict. He faces up to 30 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

“The defendants planned and executed an intricate scheme involving substantial campaign contributions to an elected official in exchange for favorable treatment. This was not a lapse in judgment. It was a calculated bribery attempt and a blatant violation of federal law,” said U.S. Attorney Dena J. King.

Lindberg was convicted in 2020 on bribery and fraud charges, along with Gray.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from April 2017 to August 2018, Lindberg, of Durham, N.C., the founder and chairman of Eli Global and the owner of Global Bankers Insurance Group, and Gray, 73, of Chapel Hill, N.C., engaged in a bribery scheme involving independent expenditure committees and improper campaign contributions to persaude Causey to take official action favorable to GBIG, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a press release.

Lindberg and Gray gave, offered, and promised the commissioner millions of dollars in campaign contributions and other things of value in exchange for the removal of NCDOI’s senior deputy commissioner, who was responsible for overseeing the regulation and the periodic examination of GBIG, the release said.

Lindberg, Gray, and Causey held numerous in-person meetings at different locations and had telephonic and other communications with each other, their co-defendant, Robert Cannon Hayes, 78, of Concord, N.C., and others to discuss Lindberg’s request for the personnel change in exchange for millions of dollars, and to devise a plan on how to funnel campaign contributions to the commissioner anonymously, the release said.

To conceal the bribery scheme, at the direction of Lindberg, two corporate entities were set up to form independent expenditure committees with the purpose of supporting Causey’s re-election campaign, and Lindberg funded the entities with $1.5 million. In addition, at Lindberg’s and Gray’s direction, Hayes helped transfer of $250,000 from Lindberg's contributions to a North Carolina state party, of which Hayes was chairman, to Causey’s re-election campaign.

“Greg Lindberg and John Gray knowingly ignored the difference between legal political donations and felonious bribery,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert M. DeWitt. “They thought they could buy changes to North Carolina Department of Insurance personnel to benefit Lindberg’s businesses.”

Hayes pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI in 2019. Lindberg served 633 days of an 87-month sentence, and later wrote a book about the experience.

A June 2022 ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the conviction. The appeals court ruled that the trial judge improperly lowered the prosecution’s burden of proof by telling the jury that the staffing change was an “official act,” one of the elements of the fraud conspiracy charge.

Lindberg, founder of the private equity firm Eli Global, eventually acquired several insurers and grouped them together as the Global Bankers Insurance Group. Insurance profits soared and ultimately enabled Lindberg to funnel $2 billion to Eli Global, according to a Wall Street Journal report. That attracted regulators and initiated Lindberg's downfall.

Lindberg made a special agreement with former insurance commissioner Wayne Goodwin allowing him to invest up to 40% of his insurance companies' assets into affiliated business entities. In November 2016, Goodwin lost his seat to Causey, who reduced the cap on affiliated investments from 40% to 10%.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.

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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 john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.