Wake County DA candidate vows to look into billionaire Lindberg for state crimes

Esther Frances Danielle Battaglia, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.Herald-Sun

Despite having been federally convicted of orchestrating bribery and insurance fraud schemes, billionaire Greg Lindberg could face separate charges for state crimes.

Unlike federal charges, any charges at the state level would not be subject to being overturned by a presidential pardon.

Wiley Nickel, the uncontested candidate for Wake County district attorney, said he will “launch an investigation into possible state criminal charges” for Lindberg when he takes office next year. Nickel, a Democrat, also served as a U.S. House member.

Lindberg on Tuesday was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison. He pleaded guilty on charges tied to siphoning money from and defrauding insurance companies and spending the money on personal expenses.

Lindberg, who founded private investment firm Global Growth and owned Global Bankers Insurance Group, was also convicted of trying to bribe North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey with millions in campaign contributions in exchange for removing a senior deputy commissioner in the department.

Last year, to lobby for a federal pardon on his behalf, Lindberg hired President Donald Trump’s former bodyguard, Keith Schiller of Javelin Advisors LLC.

Lindberg has appeared in Javelin Advisors’ disclosure reports the past three quarters, though only the first time did the company note that it’s for a presidential pardon. Officials react to potential pardon

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said he spoke to U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin about Lindberg’s attempt to get a pardon from Trump.

“I told Martin it was a bad idea,” Tillis said in text messages to McClatchy.

Asked if he thought it might still happen, Tillis said, “Ed Martin pardoned Binance CEO and considered pardoning the corporation.”

Changpeng Zhao served as CEO of Binance, a cryptocurrency company. Zhao resigned in 2023 as CEO and pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He served a four-month prison sentence, but Trump pardoned him in 2025 after being lobbied by Ches McDowell, brother of U.S. Rep. Addison McDowell of North Carolina.

Binance spent $800,000 lobbying for Zhao’s pardon, the Wall Street Journal reported.

And asked about Nickel promising to launch a state investigation of Lindberg, Tillis said: “He violated state law and should be prosecuted.”

Nickel said in a statement that Lindberg’s federal case “is not the end of this matter.”

“The federal convictions established serious efforts to corrupt public decision-making in North Carolina and influence state regulators for private gain,” he said. “North Carolina has its own laws, its own courts, and its own responsibility to hold people accountable when our laws are broken.”

Nickel in March won the Democratic nomination for Wake County district attorney. There are no Republican candidates registered to run against him in November.

Causey last year wrote a letter to Trump urging the president not to pardon Lindberg, writing that the billionaire’s “criminal conduct was not incidental, technical, or victimless.”

“The victims of his illegal activities: including policyholders and employees whose financial security was placed at risk, continue to suffer the repercussions today,” Causey wrote. “These harms are real, ongoing, and irreparable. A pardon would not undo them; it would compound them by signaling that wealth, influence, and persistence can outweigh accountability.”