SC public corruption: 4 of 5 Pinson co-conspirators to be sentenced

A federal judge in Charleston on Tuesday will sentence four of five men who have pleaded guilty to participating in criminal schemes orchestrated by former S.C. State University board chairman Jonathan Pinson.

Judge David Norton, who presided over Pinson’s trial last summer, will do the sentencing.

Last summer a federal jury found Pinson, once a political ally and former business partner of Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, guilty of 29 of 45 felony counts revolving around racketeering and public corruption. Norton sentenced him to five years, but he is appealing the verdict and sentence.

Tuesday’s sentencing will almost bring to a close a multi-year state and federal investigation into public corruption in South Carolina involving a Columbia private-public housing development known as Village at River’s Edge, federal funds going to a Marion County diaper plant and bribery at S.C. State University in Orangeburg.

All four to be sentenced Tuesday cooperated with the government in its investigation of Pinson. They are expected to avoid prison or get light sentences. Four testified against him at his trial last summer.

Pinson, the central figure in all four criminal schemes hatched to make money illegally, was called the “mastermind” of the operations by federal prosecutors.

The specific crimes Pinson was found guilty of included racketeering, or being part of an ongoing criminal enterprise engaged in crimes like money laundering, theft of federal funds, wire fraud, bribery and extortion.

Up to the time he was indicted, Pinson was regarded as a high-flying businessman with political connections that went as high as Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. Pinson was also a Liberty Fellow, an elite group of South Carolinians selected each year by Greenville philanthropist Hayne Hipp to be groomed for leadership positions in South Carolina.

The four to be sentenced are:

▪ Michael Bartley, former S.C. State police chief, has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge for agreeing to accept a payoff of $30,000 and an all-terrain vehicle in exchange for being part of a Pinson kickback scheme at the university.

▪ Lance Wright, of Lexington, a former Pinson associate and S.C. State board member, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and bank fraud.

▪ Robert “Tony” Williams, of Florida, pleaded guilty to various conspiracy charges involving the Village at River’s Edge and other projects.

▪ Phillip Mims, of Lexington, pleaded guilty to conspiring to get sizable loans from banks for building projects in Marion County and in the Columbia area, and diverting the money to illegal uses, according to federal charges.

The fifth remaining co-conspirator Richard Zahn, a Florida developer, had been scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday. He will now be sentenced at a later time.

Zahn has pleaded guilty to participating in a kickback scheme in which he tried to sell S.C. State 121 acres of land he owns near the university. That land, called Sportsman’s Retreat, was pitched to the school as a possible site for a university conference center. Zahn was to give Pinson a $90,000 Porsche Cayenne SUV in return for Pinson’s help in getting the university to buy the Zahn land for $2.8 million. Federal agents stepped in before the land was sold.

Federal prosecutors have recommended probationary sentences of 8-14 months for Zahn and Bartley, which they would serve on home detention, according to court records. The recommendation is based on the defendants’ “substantial assistance” in providing information about Pinson’s crimes, as well as their testimony against him in last year’s trial, according to prosecutors’ motions.

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 for testifying against Pinson. Givens lost his law license temporarily.

All four to be sentenced Tuesday, as well as Zahn, cooperated with the government in its investigation of Pinson.

This story was originally published July 19, 2015 at 10:19 PM.