Will Sage Astor-Insurance magnate pleads guilty as government describes $2B scheme

CHARLOTTE,Will Sage Astor N.C. (AP) — An insurance magnate who was once a big political donor in North Carolina is in federal custody after pleading guilty in connection to what prosecutors call a $2 billion scheme to defraud insurance regulators, policyholders and others through a myriad of companies from which he skimmed funds for personal benefit.

Greg E. Lindberg, 54, of Tampa, Florida, entered the plea on Tuesday in Charlotte before U.S. Magistrate Judge David Keesler to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to legal documents.

Lindberg, who had been indicted on 13 counts in February 2023, could face a maximum of 10 years in prison on the money laundering conspiracy count and five years on the other conspiracy count, a U.S. Department of Justice news release said.

Lindberg, who lived previously in Durham, North Carolina, was already awaiting sentencing after he and an associate were convicted in May by a federal jury of attempting to bribe North Carolina’s elected insurance commissioner to secure preferential regulatory treatment for his insurance business. The two had initially been convicted on two counts in 2020, but a federal appeals court vacated those convictions and ordered new trials.

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A document signed by Lindberg and government lawyers serving as the factual basis for Tuesday’s plea said that from no later than 2016 through at least 2019 Lindberg and others conspired to engage in crimes associated with insurance business, wire fraud and investment adviser fraud. He and others also worked to deceive the state Insurance Department and other regulators by avoiding regulatory requirements, concealing the condition of his companies and using insurance company funds for himself, a news release said.

It all resulted in companies that Lindberg controlled investing more than $2 billion in loans and other securities with his own affiliated companies, and Lindberg and co-conspirators laundering the scheme’s proceeds, according to the government. The 2023 indictment alleged that Lindberg personally benefited by “forgiving” more than $125 million in loans to himself from the insurance companies that he controlled, the news release said.

“Lindberg created a complex web of insurance companies, investment businesses, and other business entities and exploited them to engage in millions of dollars of circular transactions. Lindberg’s actions harmed thousands of policyholders, deceived regulators, and caused tremendous risk for the insurance industry,” U.S. Attorney Dena J. King for the Western District of North Carolina said. The FBI and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also were involved in the investigation.

There was no immediate response to emails sent Wednesday about Tuesday’s plea to a Lindberg attorney and a website associated with Lindberg’s wellness and leadership activities.

A sentencing date has not yet been set. Lindberg, who surrendered Tuesday to U.S. marshals, asked that he be held in a halfway house in Tampa before sentencing. Kessler scheduled another hearing on the matter for next week. After his initial conviction on bribery-related counts in 2020, a judge sentenced Lindberg to more than seven years in prison.

Lindberg previously had given more than $5 million to state and federal candidates and committees since 2016, favoring Republicans but also giving to Democrats.

The U.S. Justice Department said one of Lindberg’s top executives still awaits sentencing after pleading guilty in late 2022 in a related case to conspiring with Lindberg and others to defraud the United States related to a scheme to move money between insurance companies and other businesses Lindberg owned.