Several North Carolina lobbyists who had been named in a public corruption scheme involving influence-buying at the state legislature will soon have their criminal charges dismissed, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told WRAL on Thursday.
Her office in April brought charges against four lobbyists for gambling and liquor companies, accusing them of soliciting their clients to give to a politically connected group as North Carolina considered and ultimately legalized sports betting several years ago.
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The investigation began with a look into a trip to Kentucky bourbon distilleries that Greater Carolina, a 501(c)4 or "dark money" organization focused on promoting and educating the public about sports betting.
It's illegal in North Carolina law for lobbyists to give any gifts, directly or indirectly, to politicians.
Prosecutors allege the gifts for the politicians included lavish trips to Kentucky for dinners, a visit to the famed Churchill Downs horseracing mecca, and tours of various bourbon distilleries which made news after employees complained of the politicians' behavior.
The organization doesn't have to publicly disclose its donors, but state investigators dug into its books and said it had received funding for the trip from the liquor and gambling companies that had hired the lobbyists in question.
Warrants made public since the initial charges were filed show investigators are also now probing the group's spending on strip clubs, luxury fashion goods, a beach house, football and golf outings, and more.
Freeman said Thursday that investigators now have no reason to believe that three of the four lobbyists originally charged appear to have had any additional involvement with Greater Carolina apart from the Kentucky bourbon tours. So she offered them the deal to dismiss their charges.
David Ferrell, Douglas Bowen Heath and Douglas Miskew received the deferred prosecution deals. The state will drop the charges against them as long as they uphold their end of the deals. Freeman said they agreed to take ethics training courses and pay a $1,000 fine each. Heath's attorney declined to comment.
In a statement to WRAL, Miskew noted that the agreement includes no finding of guilt.
“I voluntarily cooperated with the investigation, I’m not the subject of any ongoing investigation, and the investigation found that I did not give a gift, directly or indirectly, to any state lawmaker,” Miskew said, adding: “If allegations reported in the media are true, then I feel duped, as I expect do others who were led to believe the organization was acting in good faith in pursuit of its stated mission.”
A spokesperson for Ferrell said he’s looking forward to the dismissal of charges.
“By the terms of the agreement, David does not admit guilt, and there is an acknowledgement that there is no evidence that David personally gave a gift, directly or indirectly, and an acknowledgement that David is not the subject of an ongoing investigation,” Jeff Reeves, a manager at NP Strategy, told WRAL in a statement about Ferrell.
A fourth lobbyist, Kevin Wilkinson, remains under investigation.
Prosecutors are “continuing to investigate the extent to which he had additional involvement" with Greater Carolina, Freeman said in an interview Thursday. Wilkinson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Freeman told WRAL this summer she expects to still bring additional charges in the case. No state lawmakers, or Greater Carolina executives, face charges at this point.