Insurance Mogul Greg Lindberg Pleads Guilty to $2 Billion Fraud, Money Laundering Scheme

The Department of Justice building in Washington on March 28, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Insurance mogul Greg Lindberg has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a $2 billion fraud and money laundering scheme that defrauded thousands of insurance policyholders, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Lindberg pleaded guilty on Nov. 12 to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States and one count of money laundering in a scheme to defraud insurance regulators and policyholders.

The 54-year-old Tampa resident faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for the two counts, the DOJ said in a Nov. 12 statement. Lindberg is the founder of Eli Global LLC and owner of Global Bankers Insurance Group.

Prosecutors said that Lindberg conspired to defraud various insurance companies and policyholders through a web of companies based in North Carolina, Bermuda, Malta, and elsewhere between 2016 and 2019.

According to his indictment, Lindberg allegedly deceived the North Carolina Department of Insurance and other regulators and evaded regulatory requirements designed to protect insurance policyholders.

The insurance magnate was accused of using insurance company funds for his personal benefit by purchasing real estate and “forgiving” more than $125 million in loans from his affiliated companies to himself.

It stated that Lindberg and his co-conspirators engaged in “circular transactions” among his affiliated companies to invest more than $2 billion in loans and other securities and then laundered the scheme’s proceeds.

Prosecutors alleged that Lindberg provided false statements about his insurance business to regulators and obscured the real financial health of his companies. The scheme has led to some of his insurance companies being put into rehabilitation and liquidation, it stated.

“Thousands of policyholders suffered substantial financial hardship as a result of Lindberg’s fraud scheme, which left multiple companies in or on the brink of liquidation,” DOJ Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri said in a statement.

“The Justice Department will not hesitate to hold corporate executives accountable when they threaten critical sectors of the economy, like the insurance industry, to enrich themselves.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Lindberg’s attorney but did not hear back by publication time.

In May, a federal judge convicted Lindberg and his consultant, John Gray, of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. They face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for the charges. A sentencing date has not been set.

Lindberg and Gray were accused of trying to offer $1.5 million to North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey in campaign contributions in exchange for the removal of the North Carolina Department of Insurance’s senior deputy commissioner, who was responsible for overseeing the regulation of Lindberg’s company.