Lindberg’s Top Associate To Be Sentenced After Pleading Guilty to Fraud Charges

A top executive for embattled North Carolina insurance executive Greg Lindberg is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges in connection with an elaborate scheme to shunt millions of dollars from Lindberg’s insurance companies.

Christopher Herwig, a chief investment officer and director of companies owned by Lindberg, entered his plea agreement last week, just days after federal prosecutors filed a criminal information document detailing multiple charges.

Herwig’s plea agreement was not made public on the federal court website, so it’s not clear if he has agreed to testify against Lindberg, who until recently owned several insurance companies. The news could be another blow for Lindberg, once described as an insurance “magnate” and a billionaire. He now faces charges filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and a second trial on bribery charges. Lindberg was convicted in 2020 of attempting to bribe the North Carolina insurance commissioner, but an appeals court ordered a new trial due to the trial judge’s jury instructions.

The latest criminal filing does not name Lindberg but refers to the “owner” of the many companies that Herwig managed. It also names Devin Solow, Lindberg’s mergers and acquisitions manager.

“As part of the manner and means of the conspiracy, owner, Herwig and Solow engaged in circular transactions among owner’s web of entities, using insurance company funds, and made, and caused to be made, various false and fraudulent representations, concealed material facts and told deceptive half-truths to the NCDOI and other third parties…” the prosecutors said in the filing.

In 2017 and 2018, the men extracted hundreds of millions of dollars from a number of insurance companies through a series of loans and other transactions, then used the money to acquire and operate other companies, the information document contends. Some of the transactions involved sham repurchases totaling $96 million, prosecutors noted.

Lindberg issued a statement about the charges. He said he had actually invested more than $500 million in his insurance companies and “never took a penny of dividends,” according to news reports.

“The allegation that I somehow defrauded them while investing $500 million in them and taking no dividends is entirely absurd,” Lindberg said through his public relations agency.

Prosecutors addressed that argument in the Herwig filing.

“While publicly representing he … never took a ‘dividend’ from an insurance company, owner instead used loans to extract money from the insurance companies for owner’s personal benefit indirectly,” partly through transfers documented as “loans to shareholder,” the information reads.

Herwig has been allowed to remain out of incarceration on an appearance bond. A sentencing date has not been set.

Lindberg Claims Buyer for Carolina Insurance Companies, But Liquidation Has Begun