Watch secretly recorded videos from the bribery sting that targeted Durham billionaire
The public can now listen to the secret recordings that formed the core of the federal government’s corruption case against Durham billionaire Greg Lindberg.
On March 5, a jury convicted the insurance mogul of using the promise of millions in campaign money to bribe North Carolina’s insurance commissioner Mike Causey.
Causey cooperated in the federal sting and wore a clandestine recording device to capture his conversations with Lindberg and two associates. Over the course of the eight-day trial, jurors heard hours of those conversations, and the video clips below capture some of them.
Lindberg and his associates repeatedly asked Causey to replace a regulator named Jackie Obusek, who was responsible for overseeing one of Lindberg’s companies — and who Lindberg contended was unfairly tarnishing the company’s reputation.
In a March 2018 meeting at the Statesville airport, Causey asked Lindberg “what’s in it for me” if he replaced Obusek with John Palermo, who at the time was working for Lindberg. The insurance magnate replied that his people could set up an independent expenditure committee to support Causey’s reelection campaign and “put in a million or two or whatever.”
This video shows parts of that conversation:
At a May 29, 2018 meeting at Lindberg’s house in Durham, Causey met with Lindberg and his associate, John Gray, who was also convicted of two public corruption charges. There, the three men agreed to a new plan — assigning a regulator named Debbie Walker to take over the job of regulating Lindberg’s company - and funneling $2 million to Causey’s reelection campaign through the North Carolina Republican Party.
Watch the video below to hear excerpts of that conversation.
Causey met again with Lindberg and Gray on July 25, 2018. At that meeting, Gray told Causey he would get “ten-thousand plus two-hundred fifty-thousand, quickly, if we have your assurance and a date certain by which the Debbie Walker staff realignment can occur.”
The three men also get on the phone with Robin Hayes, former chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, to ask that he transfer $250,000 of the money Lindberg donated to Causey’s reelection campaign. Hayes promises to “get ‘er done.”
Hayes, a former congressman, pleaded guilty in October to lying to the FBI agents who investigated the case. He faces up to six months in prison and is expected to be sentenced soon.
Watch this video to hear excerpts of these conversations:
Click here to view all of the government’s exhibits in the Lindberg trial.
One of Lindberg’s attorneys, Brandon McCarthy, said he is likely to appeal his conviction.
.JPG)