Jury Instruction Misled Jury by stating that an “Official Act” Existed as a Matter of Law

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Greg E. Lindberg and John D. Gray were convicted of honest services fraud and federal funds bribery in connection with a series of payments and offers of payment, in the form of campaign contributions, made to Mike Causey, the elected Insurance Commissioner for North Carolina. In United States Of America v. Greg E. Lindberg, Nos. 20-4470, 20-4473, United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit (June 29, 2022) the Fourth Circuit granted a new trial.

FACTS

Greg Lindberg and Gray (“defendants”) were convicted of conspiring to commit honest services wire fraud and federal funds bribery for offering millions of dollars in campaign contributions to Mike Causey, the Commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Insurance, in exchange for the reassignment of a Senior Deputy Commissioner assigned to review Lindberg’s insurance companies.

The defendants were each charged in March 2019 with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and one count of federal funds bribery and aiding and abetting the same.

The trial court stated in no uncertain terms “that the removal or replacement of a [S]enior [D]eputy [C]ommissioner by the [C]ommissioner would constitute an “official act.”

The Fourth Circuit decided that it could not conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury verdict would have been the same absent the error. As a result the Fourth Circuit concluded that the instructional error was not harmless as to Count One and, therefore, that defendants’ verdicts on Count One must be vacated.

ZALMA OPINION

Lindberg’s and Gray’s actions properly caused concern for the newly elected Insurance Commission, Mr. Causey, because of the large dollar amounts from two people who supported and contributed to his opponent. He, to protect himself, called in the FBI who, working with him, caused a jury to convict them. The court did not comment on their guilt, only that the trial court’s error tainted the verdicts. They could be convicted again as long as the trial court uses an appropriate instruction.

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Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, is available at http://www.zalma.com and [email protected].

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