Judge hammers former SC State board chairman Pinson with $337,000 forfeiture
A federal judge has ruled that convicted racketeer and former S.C. State University board chairman Jonathan Pinson must forfeit $337,000 in connection with the financial crimes he committed.
Some $234,000 of that $337,000 is the money that Pinson illegally siphoned from federal funds that were supposed to go to construction at the Village at River’s Edge development in Columbia, according to federal records.
Pinson’s longtime friend and political ally Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin was originally a partner in Pinson’s Village at River’s Edge Development, but was bought out by Pinson, before Pinson became involved in any criminal activity, according to records.
Another $103,000 Pinson must forfeit is to come from money he got from some $1 million in economic development federal funds tagged for a diaper plant in Marion County. The plant never was active, and the $1 million spent to develop it was a total loss, prosecutors have said.
Federal Judge David North set the $337,000 figure earlier this month, after wrangling between federal prosecutors and Pinson’s lawyer, Jim Griffin of Columbia, who wanted Pinson to be eligible for only $74,100.
Prosecutors originally sought to make Pinson pay a total of $414,943.
Pinson and a half-dozen co-defendants have yet to be sentenced. All six co-defendants cooperated with the government and are expected to get little or no time in prison. Pinson is exposed to a maximum sentence of some 18 years and possibly millions in fines.
Pinson was the main developer of Village at River’s Edge, which received millions in funds from HUD and the city of Columbia. Around 2008, when the project was getting underway, Pinson claimed it would be a $30 million project with 220 units. It now has some 60 units.
A federal jury in Columbia found Pinson guilty in July of 29 crimes, including racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering in various schemes, some of which was skimmed government money from grants and programs. Pinson was the ringleader who sometimes used his position as S.C. State board chairman to make money illegally, the jury found.
Prosecutors have stressed how lenient they are being with Pinson.
“We think we have come up with a figure that is very generous to Mr. Pinson,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Taylor told U.S. Judge David Norton earlier this spring in a hearing. “All the testimony at the trial established that this man took money he was not entitled to.”
Anyone convicted of making illegal money in a racketeering activity is subject to having the money confiscated, or forfeited, to the government.
This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 9:50 PM with the headline "Judge hammers former SC State board chairman Pinson with $337,000 forfeiture."