6 more to be sentenced in SC State kickback case

Several people accused in a kickback and corruption scheme at South Carolina State University now have a sentencing date.

The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reports that the six who have admitted to being involved in various schemes surrounding former board chairman Jonathan Pinson will be sentenced July 6 in Charleston.

Last month, Pinson was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty in July of orchestrating four fraudulent, wide-ranging business deals. He is appealing the sentence.

A jury convicted Pinson last summer on 29 federal charges in schemes involving a 2011 homecoming, an effort to sell the 121-acre Sportsman’s Retreat to the university, a Marion County diaper factory and a Columbia-area housing complex, the Village at River’s Edge.

Those set for sentencing include Florida developer Richard Zahn, former university police chief Michael Bartley, former trustee Lance Wright and investors Phillip Mims and Tony Williams.

One participant already has been sentenced.

Ed Givens of Columbia last year was given six months’ probation. Givens, a conspirator in two of Pinson’s schemes while Givens served as chief counsel for S.C. State, pleaded guilty to misprision, or concealment, of a felony. He received probation because he agreed to testify against Pinson. Givens lost his law license temporarily.

Eric Robinson, Pinson’s co-defendant at trial, was acquitted on all charges by the jury. He was found dead in March in an Atlanta hotel room, apparently of natural causes. Robinson, 45, was a longtime Pinson friend, college roommate and business associate.

This story was originally published June 11, 2015 at 7:55 PM.