SBI warrant reveals Greater Carolina group spent money on Panthers, vacations

Spending revealed in a State Bureau of Investigation search warrant is the latest evidence made public in a criminal investigation that began with accusations of drunken lawmakers on a Kentucky bourbon tour in 2024.

The group Greater Carolina hosted that trip. A July 1 warrant, issued by a judge at the request of the SBI, was seeking to find out more about what else the conservative, free-market group spent its money on, from payments to the Carolina Panthers, to a weeklong stay at a vacation rental in Emerald Isle, to purchases from two companies that own strip clubs.

WRAL-TV first reported the warrant seeking records on Greater Carolina’s bank account, which is at a Fidelity bank in Fuquay-Varina. The SBI investigation is looking for violations of the State Ethics Act and State Lobbying Act, “but we will go wherever the evidence leads us,” Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told The News & Observer in February, when the investigation began.

Four lobbyists were indicted in April, The News & Observer previously reported. A grand jury said they violated state restrictions on gifts to state lawmakers.

The records sought in the latest warrant “may be evidence of conduct and activities constituting the crime of Obtaining Property by False Pretense by individuals associated with Greater Carolina," an SBI agent wrote.

Here are key aspects of the warrant:

• The request is from an SBI special agent in the Professional Standards Unit who conducts criminal investigations.
• It gives background of why this is happening, including the August 2024 complaint alleging violations of the state’s lobbying and ethics law, sent to the State Ethics Commission, Secretary of State’s Office and Wake County District Attorney’s Office about Greater Carolina, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit based in Mooresville. Carolina Forward, a left-leaning nonprofit based in Carrboro, filed the complaint, The N&O previously reported.
• The warrant also says that the Ethics Commission started an inquiry into the allegations, with results sent to Freeman, who then requested the SBI start the criminal investigation. And part of that investigation is looking at the bank records.
• The 11-page warrant seeks to inspect a long list of records, with a date range of Aug. 21, 2018 to Jan. 1, 2022, which is all before the controversial distillery tour with lawmakers. (Another tour, since made public, took place in 2022.) There is no indication in the document whether lawmakers were part of any of the spending.

More details about history of Greater Carolina

• Greater Carolina is a group that began with ties to a former top state House budget writer, Jason Saine, and who was also on that distillery tour two years ago.
• Greater Carolina was organized as a “social welfare” organization when Clark Riemer, a former Saine staffer, filed papers with the Secretary of State in 2018.
• Saine “was involved in the conception of the idea to create Greater Carolina,” the warrant states. Saine was a House member representing Lincoln County from 2011 to 2024, when he resigned his seat early. He told The N&O when he resigned in the summer of 2024 that it “was time” and that he was considering going into lobbying, which he subsequently did.
• Greater Carolina raised about $60,000 in 2018, its first year, then about $800,000 in 2023 and about $500,000 the following year, according to the warrant.
• The warrant states that an interview as part of the SBI investigation revealed that for a time, the group’s goal was “educating lobbyists, legislators, and the public on sport betting.” The legislature ultimately legalized sports betting with bipartisan support.

Credit card purchases ranged from Panthers games to ‘gentlemen’s clubs’

These are some of the purchases made on Greater Carolina’s American Express credit card:

• $10,981 to Topgolf in Atlanta in 2022.
• $12,027 to the Carolina Panthers in 2023 and another $14,427 to the Panthers in 2024.
• $26,602 to Bluewater Vacation for a vacation rental in Emerald Isle in 2024.
• $3,260 to the Back Bay Group of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., which owns Thee DollHouse, a “gentlemen’s club” in Myrtle Beach in 2024.
• $11,868 to Gulf Coast Holdings in Clearwater, Florida, which owns OZ “gentlemen’s club.”

Those purchases were made using a credit card assigned to David Coble, who was listed as the group’s treasurer. Coble is a Mooresville businessman, former town commissioner and ally of Saine who has appeared on his radio show.