Two major donors to the Chatham County GOP were found guilty of multiple charges in a federal court last week.
Greg Lindberg, a Durham businessman who donated $100,000 to the local party in 2018, was found guilty of trying to bribe N.C. Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey and of public corruption charges. John Gray, who donated $10,725 to the local party during the same election cycle and was an associate of Lindberg, was also found guilty of corruption charges.
The two men can face up to 20 years or more in prison on the charges.
Former Chatham County GOP Chairman John Palermo, who was indicted with the other men, was found not guilty. Former N.C. GOP Chairman Robin Hayes, who was also included in the same indictment, pleaded guilty last year.
The trial, which began on Feb. 19, centered on recordings created by Causey under the direction of the FBI after Causey had raised concerns about the men to the federal authorities. Excerpts of the recordings, which were included in the sealed indictment, include conversations where Lindberg and Gray worked to convince Causey to reassign a deputy insurance commissioner and appoint Palermo to that position. In exchange, it was alleged that Lindberg would provide $2 million for Causey’s campaign to be filtered through the N.C. Republican Party.
Prosecutors argued that the hours of recordings demonstrated an “enthusiastic offer of a bribe” in order to “buy themselves an insurance commissioner.” Throughout the case, Palermo’s attorneys argued that his client was not present for many of the conversations and argued that Palermo “didn’t know” what was going on.
The jury, which included 12 attorneys, took more than 12 hours to deliberate the case before finding both Lindberg and Gray guilty on all counts. An appeal is expected.
Casey Mann can be reached at CaseyMann@Chathamnr.com.