NO JAIL for Robin Hayes ?????
That’s where this appears headed. If you read the court documents, you will have seen that the former congressman and state GOP chairman facilitated the attempted bribe of the state insurance commissioner:
When recruited in 2018 to help funnel some $2 millions in bribes to Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, Robin Hayes said he was “more than happy to help,” a new court document shows.
While Hayes, as state Republican Party chairman, raised concerns about the size of an illegal $250,000 campaign donation he had been asked to direct through the GOP to Causey, he nevertheless told his co-conspirators, “I’ll get ‘er done.”
On Monday, a filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte recommended to Hayes’ judge on how much prison time the former 11-term congressman should serve.
That number would be zero.
Starting in April 2018, Hayes served as a money changer for one of North Carolina’s worst government corruption scandals: the effort by billionaire Greg Lindberg to bribe Causey into removing an assistant who was overseeing some of Lindberg’s businesses.
Under Hayes’ watch, hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes were passed off as donations to the state GOP before being passed along to Causey, a fellow Republican who took office in 2016 and alerted the FBI to the scheme.
After his 2019 indictment and arrest on charges of corruption, bribery and making false statements, Hayes pleaded guilty last October to a reduced charge of lying to the FBI. In explaining its recommendation of probation, prosecutors cited Hayes’ plea agreement and his lack of a previous criminal record. Hayes was also prepared to testify against his partners in the scheme, the filing indicates.
Under the federal sentencing guidelines, Hayes, who turns 75 this week, faced up to six months in prison. Both sides, however, recommended probation.
In a June filing, Hayes’ lawyers described their client’s “very public fall from grace” and said he will “regret lying to the FBI for the rest of his life … No separate punishment would exceed the gravity of those consequences of his conviction.”
On Aug. 19, U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn will have the final say. He’ll preside over back-to-back sentencing hearings in the Charlotte federal courthouse first for Hayes and then Lindberg and associate John Gray. After a three-week trial, Lindberg and Gray were found guilty of two corruption-related charges and face up to 30 years in prison.
While recommending that Hayes be spared prison time, prosecutors spared few words in outlining Hayes’ crime.
On July 25, 2018, Lindberg and Gray, frustrated that the insurance inspector had not been replaced, called Hayes and told him to move $250,000 of Lindberg’s money to Causey by the end of the week, the new filing shows.
Hayes expressed alarm that a contribution that large two years before the next election “was gonna draw attention.” But he agreed to move the money anyway. “… when you say do it, that, that’s easy, that’s easy … I’ll get ‘er done,” according to the filing.
In late August 2018, when Hayes was scheduled to meet with the FBI, Gray called minutes before the interview to warn him that the agents were asking questions about the GOP’s transfers to Causey, the filing indicates.
Once the interview began, Hayes lied about having any conversations with Lindberg about any contributions and how the money was to be used, the filing says. He also lied when asked if he had talked to Causey about the money or Causey’s pledge to make personnel moves at his department in Lindberg’s behalf.
Hayes, according to the filing, continued to insist that he was telling the truth, even after the FBI played a recording of the July 25th call in which he, Lindberg, Gray and Causey discussed the details of the $250,000 transfer.
As of Monday, prosecutors have not filed a recommended sentence for Lindberg or Gray.
This does not sound like someone who was entrapped. Nor does it sound like a naive old man conned by professional ne’er-do-wells. Robin Hayes sounded like an enthusiastic participant who appeared to have experience in this kind of thing.
Orange is a great color for Hayes. He should at least be ordered to have to wear it in public for 6 months. Grandpa should get Jail for lying to the state GOP executive committee when he told them that he did not come to Raleigh to take over for the State chairman the party ousted moments before on the sad sad day but he had notes he read that he wrote the night before #CaughtInTheLie he was. The ones that fought for him to be Chairman again should also be ousted from the party
Money talks, BS walks, and Cannon lint head retirees get $25.00 per month pensions. Hayes was a democrat
before he changed parties to get an appointment. His family vacationed at Martha’s Vineyard with the Kennedy’s.
Can you say the democrats look after their RINO’S.
Midway early voting 2016 Pat McCrory violated his own personal integrity because he listened to Robin Hayes. The special interest Coastal Conservation Association got what it wanted. Governor McCrory did not.
OK… I’d like to see some Cal Cunningham investigation articles!! Can we stop with some of the GOP bashing??!!
Jill,
While I understand your point one of the reason Tillis is so weak now and has been supported in the party is because of the broken party people like Hayes have created. But if Tillis was conservative he would not have issues being re-elected. Tillis might have a R by his name but he is not role model for NC Republicans he is one of the problems in the state.