Greg Lindberg Discloses 8 Reasons Why the Public Should Demand That the FBI, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and the N.C. Attorney General Investigate Mike Causey
Mike Causey (File photo)
DURHAM, N.C. / October 4th, – Greg Lindberg, founder of Global Growth group of companies, today released a report listing eight reasons why federal and state authorities should investigate Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey. The public should demand an investigation based on these eight reasons:
#1. Mike Causey initiated the investigation of me to deflect attention away from his own corrupt acts.
Mike Causey was sued by the owner of Cannon Surety, Dallas McClain, in October of 2017. The lawsuit stated that Causey enabled and instructed “the abuse of power, while continuing to engage in outright influence peddling and overt criminal political corruption through ‘Pay to Play’ politics.” Dallas McClain subsequently filed an additional lawsuit this summer alleging that “Internal DOI documents reveal that [Mike Causey and Jackie Obusek] plotted to shut down Mr. McClain’s company astonishingly in order to cut off his funds so he could not protect and/or defend himself and Cannon in a lawsuit he was then pursuing against a third-party surety competitor and others who were friends and supporters of [Causey and Obusek].”[1]
An affidavit in the McClain lawsuit stated that Causey admitted that he “shut down Cannon” at the request of certain of his political supporters. The lawsuit demonstrated that Causey put Dallas McClain’s company out of business for purely political reasons. When his behavior was discovered, Causey went to the FBI with false allegations about me so his own actions would not be investigated. And the fact that I was the No. 1 supporter of his political rival and had funded “attack” ads (albeit truthful) about Mike Causey made me an attractive target to him. You can read more at: https://lapostexaminer.com/does-a-successful-appeal-loom-for-greg-lindberg/2020/08/29
As my attorney said during my trial: “Once [Causey] becomes aware that [Dallas McClain] is submitting this information to the FBI and they threaten him with a federal grand jury regarding his activities, it’s our belief that Causey immediately initiated an investigation against Greg Lindberg and his companies with the ulterior motive of trying to deflect attention from himself and aligning himself with law enforcement.” Read more at: https://www.wral.com/in-federal-suit-indicted-bail-bonds-owner-alleges-conspiracy-by-top-state-officials/19228657/
This would explain why Causey targeted me with an aggressive 8-month entrapment scheme, replete with Causey’s outright lies, demands for secret meetings, false pretenses, and other activities that an honest insurance regulator would never do.
The bottom line is that Causey positioned himself to be the government’s star witness — making it far less likely the FBI would dirty up its own confidential informant, much less truly investigate him. That is exemplified by the FBI’s cursory interviews of Causey’s accusers — with no follow up whatsoever. Thus, the FBI was aware of the Cannon Surety issue and chose to look the other way — Causey’s way. The public has a right to expect more of the FBI and should insist on an investigation.
#2: Mike Causey spent 8 months aggressively demanding donations from me solely to try and entrap me.
Mike Causey induced the FBI to start a bribery investigation before any alleged bribe occurred. How could that be? At trial, it came out that Mike Causey told the FBI about an alleged $110,000 “bribe.” That key fact launched the FBI investigation. It came out two years later that the $110,000 bribe NEVER happened (“the Lie”). That little fact did not come out until trial, when my attorneys proved it was completely false. That is not a contested fact. It was 100% false. Did the DOJ hit pause? Did they reassess their 2 year multi-million dollar investigation and high publicity indictment? Nope. The train had left the station and Greg Lindberg was getting prosecuted — no matter what. And an investigation started on a blatant lie had me (with no criminal record) facing 20 years in prison. Mind-blowing.
After these lies and at Causey’s constant urging (i.e., 1,100 texts and calls), the FBI spent eight months, hundreds of hours, and made over 107 attempts to try to entrap me. In most instances, this type of aggressive entrapment by law enforcement is not permitted. All the while, Causey repeatedly demanded large donations from me, stating “hell, I’m the insurance commissioner,” and asking, “what’s in it for me?” Remember, Mike Causey is the one who was regulating my insurance companies.
Mr. Causey had enormous power over my companies and still does today. What was I supposed to do when he aggressively and repeatedly demanded donations? We didn’t have a choice but to concede to his demands for donations. We took assurance from his agreement that “there was nothing wrong with” the donations he was demanding. As we later found out, he forced my insurance companies into rehabilitation anyway based on lies he told the Wall Street Journal. Read more at: https://nsjonline.com/article/2020/08/08-25-2020-an-open-letter-from-greg-lindberg/
#3: Did Mike Causey lie to the FBI?
Lying to the FBI is a felony. It is my belief and I strongly believe it was unequivocally proven at my trial that Causey lied to the FBI. Did they charge him. No. Why not? No good reason. Again, Mike Causey initiated an FBI investigation of me by lying to them (and subsequently to the court), saying in late 2017 that he had received and returned a $110,000 donation from me — the Lie. The truth? No such donation occurred. It is that simple. You can read more at: https://www.allnewsbuzz.com/greg-lindberg-says-mike-causey-lied-to-the-fbi/
When that investigation was not moving fast enough, Causey poured gas on the fire. Causey compounded his lies when he also told the FBI and the government that I was running a Ponzi scheme. Specifically, he told the FBI that one of my largest assets was “worthless” — despite numerous audits, valuations, and an audited personal financial statement, all of which was provided to support the asset’s $900 million+ value. This absurd inflammatory theory by Causey was proven 100% false. But not before the FBI, the Wall Street Journal and others took Causey’s lies — akin to yelling “fire” in a crowded theater — at face value.
Causey misled people about the performance of our group of companies. Our group of businesses in aggregate is forecasting close to $300 million in cash flow on approximately $1.4 billion in revenue for 2020. Despite the recession-induced by COVID, in the three months of June, July, and August of this year alone, Global Growth companies made close to $100 million in adjusted EBITDA — substantially ahead of our plan for the year despite COVID. Still, the FBI continued to use Causey as their star witness. Read more at: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200831005209/en/Greg-Lindberg-News-Roundup-Delivering-Record-Operating
In fact, a recent final draft valuation report prepared by a well-recognized national valuation firm found that my companies’ assets were between $860 million and $1.46 billion in excess of liabilities on a fair market value basis as of December 31, 2019. These net worth numbers are net of all liabilities owed by Global Growth companies to affiliated insurers and to third-party lenders. This means that the loans from our affiliated insurers to Global Growth companies are very well secured.
Note that the above asset values are also net of the more than $400 million in damages that false statements have inflicted on the Global Growth businesses. Read more at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-growth-achieves-record-operating-results-for-the-first-half-of-2020-founder-greg-lindberg-reports-301099792.html
#4: Did Mike Causey lie under oath at my trial?
Mike Causey, in response to basic questions on the stand during the trial, said “I do not recall” over 100 times and perjured himself during trial. Meanwhile, Causey miraculously had a perfect memory for the prosecution’s questions. Like lying to the FBI, committing perjury at trial is a federal felony. However, Causey has not been prosecuted and various law enforcement agencies have not responded to requests for an investigation into Causey’s testimony
I believe Causey lied (again) under oath at my recent trial, denying the fact that he was the one who demanded the secret meetings with me. The FBI agents who watched his testimony knew he was not telling the truth. But not a peep out of them about Causey perjuring himself during my recent trial. The prosecution knew better, too.
Causey also did not tell the jury and the Court about the fact that he was the one who demanded a personal check from me — which I refused to give him. Again, if I was trying to bribe the guy, why would I refuse to give him a personal check? Causey claimed that he was “not aware” of me during the 2016 election — despite the fact that my large donations to Causey’s opponent were mentioned in the very same articles where Causey himself was quoted.
Causey’s cell phone revealed that he was literally researching me at all hours of the day and night for almost a year. He also had over 1,100 communications with the FBI about me. When was this guy ever doing his actual job? Causey also lied to the court about his retaliatory motives even when confronted with a text that he sent to the FBI gleefully reporting that “things are closing in on Greg Lindberg.” Does that sound like an unbiased witness or someone with an agenda?
Causey was also asked (under oath) why he rejected my initial $5,000 donation (and no one else’s) to his campaign when he very first took office. Causey claimed (under oath) he was concerned and rejected all the donations from owners of companies he regulated. False. His campaign donation records show otherwise. At the same time that he was supposedly concerned about alleged donations from me, Causey received large donations from the owners of other insurers like Investors Title (which was subsequently rewarded by Causey with a large rate increase), as well as large donations from the political action committees for numerous other North Carolina insurers. In fact, Causey had previously testified in a deposition in October of 2017 that he did not find it inappropriate to receive large donations from companies he regulated – the opposite of what he said under oath in the trial. Read more at: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2020/08/28/580665.htm
#5. Did Mike Causey tell the truth on his state ethics forms?
I believe Causey did not tell the truth on his state ethics forms about his growing amount of debt. Lying on state ethics forms is a felony. Was he prosecuted? Nope. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein failed to respond to a letter sent to him almost six months ago dated March 27, 2020 detailing those lies. The public should insist that these false statements by a public official be investigated and prosecuted. Read more at: https://www.ustimesnow.com/greg-lindberg-says-the-recent-ruling-in-his-case-infringes-on-every-americans-constitutional-rights/
#6. Mike Causey plays politics at the expense of policyholders.
I personally guaranteed all debts of my insurance companies. With my economic losses exceeding $400 million from Causey’s abuse of power, the policyholders of my insurance companies lost over $400 million in backstop support. Read more at: https://nsjonline.com/article/2020/08/08-25-2020-an-open-letter-from-greg-lindberg/
#7. Did Mike Causey abuse the power of the FBI and Department of Justice for his own political gain?
The best evidence of Causey’s mindset in targeting me with an entrapment scheme comes from his own words. On the last day of the FBI investigation, Causey sent a celebratory text to the FBI entitled: “How to make [people] your bitches.” It was a step-by-step article on how to set people up. This from our elected Insurance Commissioner! The FBI’s agent response? “Thanks…and…good!” The lead FBI agent even admitted in court that he never investigated the motives of Causey, including why Causey was pushing so hard for the FBI to investigate me. The agent said he never checked public records showing that I was the largest supporter of Causey’s opponent in the bitterly contested 2016 election.
Today Mike Causey is using the case against me – the case that he initiated with lies to the FBI — as the central theme for his 2020 re-election campaign. This was clearly his plan all along in making false statements to the FBI to initiate the case. This is an egregious abuse of the Department of Justice for political gain.
Perhaps the FBI could have at least hit pause when evidence surfaced that Causey had used his power to take over an insurer (one not owned by me or Global Growth) for political reasons. There was direct evidence that Causey did that at the request of his political supporters. Read more at: https://nsjonline.com/article/2020/08/08-25-2020-an-open-letter-from-greg-lindberg/
#8. Mike Causey plays politics at the expense of the policyholders he was elected to serve.
Causey abused the power of the federal government to investigate and prosecute the largest supporter of his political opponent. And it sets a terrible precedent. I’m sure unscrupulous politicians of all stripes are watching Causey’s moves carefully to see if they too can convince the FBI to investigate some of their most troublesome opponents. Read more at: https://lapostexaminer.com/does-a-successful-appeal-loom-for-greg-lindberg/2020/08/29
This press release was issued and paid for by Global Growth. Greg Lindberg is the founder of Global Growth, a group of companies with operations in over a dozen countries. Global Growth has more than 8,500 employees and 100 business units worldwide serving customers in the areas of healthcare technology, electronic medical records, unified communications products and services, accounts receivable management services, B2B software and more.
See more at https://www.globalgrowth.com/
For more Greg Lindberg news please visit: www.greglindberg.com/in-the-news
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[1] Mike Causey tried to do this very same thing to me: deny me access to funds from my insurance companies to pay my legal expenses to defend against a case that Causey himself initiated.