Former Congressman Robin Hayes to plead guilty to lying to the FBI

Robin Hayes, former U.S. congressman and chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, has agreed to plead guilty to lying to the FBI. He faces a court hearing this week, according to court documents.

Prosecutors accused Hayes of lying to FBI agents in a case that led to indictments not only of Hayes but businessman and political contributor Greg Lindberg.

In April, a federal grand jury indicted them and two of Lindberg’s associates on conspiracy and bribery charges for their alleged attempts to influence N.C. Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey.

In a document filed Friday, Hayes’ attorney signed off on a statement from prosecutors that Hayes lied when he told the FBI “that he had never spoken with the North Carolina Insurance Commissioner about personnel or personnel problems at the North Carolina Department of Insurance or about Greg Lindberg…,” according to the Charlotte Observer.

Hayes, 74, is from Concord and represented N.C.’s eighth congressional district, which includes Stanly County, in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009 and served as chairman of the state’s Republican Party from 2011 to 2013 and from 2016 to 2019. He was also the Republican nominee for governor in 1996.

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