Lindberg had a quick and mysterious rise in Florida political circles. After never giving to state politicians before, he suddenly poured nearly $700,000 into GOP races during the 2018 election cycle. | Getty FBI met with top Florida insurance officials over GOP donor probe

TALLAHASSEE — The FBI conducted a “group meeting” with top officials in the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation on May 16 as part of an investigation into Greg Lindberg, a North Carolina businessman and large Florida GOP donor.

The FBI’s visit came less than two months after the April 2 indictment of Lindberg and a host of North Carolina GOP officials as part of the investigation, which is being led by Andrew Murray, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina and a Trump appointee. Lindberg and his companies are based in North Carolina but, as POLITICO reported, have had extensive business in front of Florida insurance regulators.


“I can confirm the FBI conducted a group meeting with OIR staff on May 16, 2019,” OIR spokesman Jon Moore told POLITICO on Friday. “These were not individual interviews, rather, a group meeting.”

Those in the meeting included: Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier, Florida’s top insurance official; general counsel Anoush Brangaccio; Carolyn Morgan, the director of the agency's Life and Health Financial Oversight unit; Paul Johns, financial administrator of the Life and Health Financial Oversight unit; and Champa Burns, financial administrator of the Life and Health Oversight unit.

Moore said he could not talk about what was discussed in the meeting, but confirmed to POLITICO that office staff had talked to federal investigators about the Lindberg investigation.

In December, POLITICO reported that Murray’s office subpoenaed the Florida Office of Insurance Regulations for records related to Lindberg and his companies.

Also indicted were North Carolina GOP Chair and former Rep. Robin Hayes, John Gray, a Lindberg consultant, and Robert Palermo, who worked at Eli Global, a company founded by Lindberg.

POLITICO also identified Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) as “Public Official A” in the indictment. That indictment focused on a scheme in North Carolina to allegedly bribe the state’s former top insurance official, not any issues related to Florida.

North Carolina insurance regulators Thursday also took over a group of Lindberg-owned companies, according to the Charlotte Observer. Lindberg had also emerged as a major political donor in that state.

Lindberg had a quick and mysterious rise in Florida political circles. After never giving to state politicians before, he suddenly poured nearly $700,000 into GOP races during the 2018 election cycle.

That included $350,000 total to a state political committee controlled by then-Gov. Rick Scott and a separate super PAC that supported Scott’s bid for Senate, and $80,000 to CFO Jimmy Patronis, whose office oversees elements of the state insurance office. Combined, Lindberg and his companies were Patronis’ biggest donor.

That increased interest in Florida politics began in late 2017 and coincided with increased scrutiny from state insurance regulators of Lindberg-owned life insurance companies. Among other things, state regulators said companies he controlled were “financially impaired.” At one point, a Lindberg company was in violation of a consent order it had signed with the Florida insurance office. Most of the staff involved with overseeing the issue were in the May meeting with FBI agents.

At that time, Lindberg companies were facing reviews by both Florida and North Carolina insurance regulators.

During the 2018 legislative session, Lindberg’s team of lobbyists, led by the firm Greenberg Traurig, also persuaded lawmakers to rewrite a key provision he wanted changed.