Court Agrees to Postpone One Lindberg Trial While Bribery Case is Retried

Embattled North Carolina insurance magnate and businessman Greg Lindberg won’t have to face two criminal trials in the same year, a federal judge has decided.

U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn last week agreed to delay Lindberg’s upcoming trial on fraudulent business practices until some time in 2024, while a separate retrial on bribery charges is set to begin in November.

“The complexity of the charges and the severity of the potential sentence, along with the volume and nature of discovery, make it highly likely that this case will involve significantly more attorney time than the average criminal case,” reads the motion to continue the fraud trial, submitted by Lindberg’s attorneys in May.

Lindberg, who was once considered a billionaire who created life and reinsurance companies, along with other businesses, was convicted in 2020 of attempting to bribe North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey to gain preferential treatment for his companies. The conviction was overturned after an appeals court found that jury instructions were in error and could have prejudiced the jurors.

Lindberg was released from prison in 2022 but was indicted in February on 13 separate charges that he had conspired to skim large amounts of money from his insurance companies, then lied about it to regulators.

The demise of Lindberg’s insurance companies has had a widespread impact. The North Carolina Department of Insurance in May took steps to liquidate Southland National Insurance Corp., which sold pre-need funeral policies. Two weeks later, the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance announced that the Tennessee Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association will step in to protect many of the 4,600 policyholders in the state.

Topics North Carolina