Greg Lindberg is seeking Trump’s pardon. Who from NC has been successful?

By Danielle Battaglia

October 27, 2025 5:00 AM

U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order on tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Yuri Gripas Abaca Press/TNS

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.

Trump issued multiple pardons in Jan 2021 and again in Jan 2025, including NC figures.
Lindberg convicted for bribery and fraud; pardons for related defendants raised questions.
Trump pardoned Jan. 6 participants in 2025; hundreds of North Carolinians listed.

Happy Monday! It’s Danielle Battaglia with the latest edition of Under the Dome, focused on the actions of the Trump administration.

Last week we learned that Durham billionaire Greg Lindberg hired President Donald Trump’s former bodyguard to lobby on Lindberg’s behalf for a pardon.

The saga that put Lindberg behind bars is quite convoluted and hard to unravel — so much so that he hasn’t been sentenced a year after his conviction because court officials are still working out how much he owes in restitution.

But the gist of his story is that he masterminded a bribery and fraud scheme that entangled the North Carolina Republican Party and was caught when Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey wore a wire for the FBI. You can read my reporting on all of this here.

But that got us thinking: Lindberg’s co-defendant, Robin Hayes, received a pardon in the last days of Trump’s first term. Who else from North Carolina has been pardoned?

We looked into it.

Robin Hayes

Hayes, 80, served as chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and represented North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during its investigation of Lindberg. He was sentenced to one year’s probation and a $9,000 fine.

Trump pardoned Hayes on Jan. 20, 2021.

Carl Andrew ‘Drew’ Boggs III

Boggs, 61, of Waxhaw, defrauded the Department of Transportation in a money laundering conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A news release said Boggs and several co-defendants, “engaged in a scheme by which they fraudulently obtained federally and state-funded construction contracts by falsely certifying that a disadvantaged business enterprise, or a small business enterprise would perform and be paid for portion of the work on those contracts.”

Boggs was not SBE or DBE certified, so he enlisted John Cuthbertson, owner of Styx Cuthbertson Trucking Company, a road construction hauler that was both DBE and SBE certified.

Boggs would accept government-funded contracts and do work, while pretending it was done by Cuthbertson’s company. Payments would run through a bank account in the Styx company’s name, but would funnel to Boggs, and Cuthbertson would get kickbacks, prosecutors alleged.

Boggs was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and two years supervised release. He also was fined $15,000.

Trump pardoned Boggs on Jan. 19, 2021.

James Austin Hayes IV

Hayes, a Charlotte businessman, is one of 10 people who were charged in 2012 in an insider trading ring. He’s also the nephew of NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

He was convicted of conspiracy to commit insider trading and given one year’s probation.

Trump pardoned him on Jan. 20, 2021.

James E. Johnson Jr.

Johnson, a Virginia Beach man, pleaded guilty to taking or attempting to take migratory game birds by aid of baiting and killing the migratory birds and unlawfully failing to retain the birds, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Johnson was convicted of taking more than 20 tons of corn to Porpoise Creek in Pamlico County to hunt scaup ducks.

He sentenced to one year’s probation and given a $7,500 fine.

Trump pardoned Johnson on Jan. 19, 2021.

Parker Lee Swisher

In 2002, Swisher, the owner of a toilet cleaning business, pleaded guilty to filing a fraudulent tax return and making false statements on a mortgage application, according to The Wilmington Star News.

The newspaper reports this allowed him to avoid paying $900,000 in federal income taxes.

He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, two years of supervised release and a $5,000 fine.

But in an “it’s all who you know” twist, Swisher is Hendrick’s neighbor, according to Racing News, and he and former Rep. Dan Bishop helped advocate for his pardon.

Trump pardoned Swisher on Jan. 19, 2021.

Corvain T. Cooper

Cooper was serving a life sentence in prison when Trump granted him clemency in January 2021 — not with a pardon, but by commuting his sentence.

His crimes?

He was convicted of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to commit money laundering, structuring currency transactions and aiding and abetting currency transactions.

His sentence was so severe because of the three-strike rule that gives longer prison sentences to repeat offenders, a policy that is often criticized.

His story was featured in BET’s “Smoke: Marijuana + Black America.”

You can read more about his story here.

Jan. 6 offenders

When Trump retook office in January 2025, he pardoned anyone convicted for crimes that took place in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Many North Carolinians are included in that list.