New date set for billionaire suspect accused of bribing state cabinet member

(The Center Square) – The retrial of billionaire Greg Lindberg is now expected to take place in November, after a federal judge recently agreed to postpone the proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn last week granted an unopposed motion by attorneys for Lindberg co-defendant John Gray to postpone a March retrial until November, after conferring with the prosecution. Lindberg, then a political donor, is accused of trying to bribe a state cabinet member.

Cogburn wrote a "failure to grant such a continuance would deny counsel for defendant the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence."

"Further, the ends of justice served by granting such continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and defendant in a speedy trial," he wrote. "Specifically, Defendant and counsel have shown a need for additional time to review discovery and other materials in preparing for trial or other resolution of this matter."

The order was in response to a new timeline proposed by Gray's attorney, Brian Cromwell.

"All parties have conferred and, by this instant Supplemental Motion, are requesting a peremptory setting of the Court's criminal jury term in Charlotte dated November 6 – November 17, 2023," Cromwell wrote.

The continuance applies to both Gray and Lindberg.

Lindberg, once North Carolina's top political donor, was released last summer from a minimum-security prison in Alabama, where he was serving seven years for an alleged attempt to bribe North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey.

An appeals court panel in June overturned his 2020 bribery and fraud convictions over mistakes made by the trial judge in delivering jury instructions. Causey worked with the FBI to record and later testified a Lindberg associate promised a large donation for Causey's campaign in exchange for a request to replace a state insurance official involved in regulating Lindberg's businesses.