Lindberg following bribery conviction: “The federal government is badly mistaken”

File picture credit score: United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public area, through Wikimedia Commons

Following his Could 2024 conviction for trying to bribe North Carolina Insurance coverage Commissioner Mike Causey, insurance coverage billionaire Greg Lindberg (pictured) is in search of both an acquittal or a retrial.

In courtroom paperwork submitted to america District Court docket for the Western District of North Carolina, Lindberg argued that the proof was insufficient to help fees of bribery and conspiracy to commit honest-services wire fraud.

Citing errors within the jury directions and evidentiary rulings, the International Bankers Insurance coverage Group proprietor filed a movement requesting both an acquittal or a brand new trial, as reported by AM Greatest.

Within the new courtroom submitting, Lindberg’s camp said: “Whereas in different instances, the federal government has got down to show a request for some type of favorable motion that advances the deserves of one thing like a lawsuit earlier than a courtroom, listening to earlier than a legislative committee, or willpower earlier than an administrative company, the federal government proved none of these issues right here.

“As an alternative, it has taken the place that the mere reassignment of labor from one deputy commissioner to a different — with none proof Mr Lindberg sought a special consequence on the Division of Insurance coverage’s evaluation of his companies — qualifies as an ‘official act’ or the ‘enterprise’ of the division. The federal government is badly mistaken.”

When Lindberg was convicted final month, Insurance coverage Commissioner Causey issued a strongly worded assertion towards fraud and corruption.

“We can’t flip our backs on fraud and corruption simply due to political allegiance,” he declared on the time. “Our democracy is constructed on the rule of regulation and instructions that all of us observe the regulation and that there’s equal justice below the regulation. For our system to work, we should obey and respect the regulation.

“So long as I’m the Commissioner of Insurance coverage, I’ll combat fraud and corruption in our insurance coverage system. I’ll proceed to work diligently to see that each citizen receives a good shake below the regulation.”

In Lindberg’s authorized staff’s view, in the meantime, a brand new trial is warranted on the very least.

“Mr Lindberg particularly requested an instruction that the reassignment of duties doesn’t qualify as an ‘official act’ or the ‘enterprise’ of the division,” his attorneys wrote. “As a result of the jury was permitted to search out guilt on a floor that’s with out query impermissible, it’s attainable the jury convicted Mr Lindberg ‘for conduct that’s not illegal’.”

If the movement succeeds (trial-wise and never by way of an acquittal), a brand new trial could be the third within the case – the primary one being the trial that preceded Lindberg’s earlier conviction in 2020. He was tried once more post-sentencing after it was dominated that he was not given a good trial the primary time round.

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