An American “billionaire” who has spent time in prison is the sole owner of a Maltese firm allegedly linked to an elaborate $75 million fraud scheme.

Greg Lindberg first established a foothold in Malta in 2014, going on to set up a web of 10 Maltese companies. He is described as a billionaire in various reports. 

The insurance mogul was jailed in 2020 for what US prosecutors described as a “brazen bribery scheme” that involved the promise of millions in campaign donations to an insurance regulator in North Carolina.

Lindberg was covertly filmed offering the bribe to insurance commissioner Mike Causey, as part of a multi-year probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

His conviction was overturned in June, with an appeals court ordering a fresh trial due to a procedural error in the original trial.

Upon his release, Lindberg pledged to donate €1 million to an American civil liberties NGO to help people fight injustices, saying those who cannot afford to fight “get rolled over by prosecutors and their bag of tricks”.

Clients' funds 'raided'

Lindberg is now facing another court battle, with America’s financial watchdog accusing him and his Maltese firm Standard Advisory Services Limited (SASL) of defrauding clients of some $75 million.

The Security and Exchange Commission alleged in a legal complaint that SASL was used to defraud Lindberg’s clients of $54 million, with a further $21.4 million in fees collected by the Maltese company “during the course of their fraud”.

Lindberg, an associate and SASL are all being accused of having “raided” their client’s funds through a complex scheme.

The American regulator claims Lindberg funnelled millions of dollars to his personal cash accounts and directed SASL to loan more than $35 million to companies he owned and controlled.

Lindberg also directed his Maltese company to issue dividends to a shell parent company he owned, extracting $12.9 million from these alone, according to court filings.

Company 'disappointed' by lawsuit

A spokesperson for Lindberg maintains the allegations are “false”.

SASL director Joe Grioli has said neither he nor any of the other directors were being investigated.  

Previously, Grioli served as managing director of Vodafone Malta for more than 15 years, having played a key role in establishing a local presence for the telecoms giant.

He then moved into financial services, setting up his own company and also chairing Sliema’s IIG Bank Malta – a role he holds to this day.

In a statement, SASL said it is “disappointed” by the SEC lawsuit and believes the complaint contains many factual inaccuracies. 

“The firm fully cooperated with the SEC’s investigation and, moreover, withdrew its SEC registration in 2019. None of Standard Advisory Services’ current directors are named in the lawsuit. The firm intends to vigorously defend itself against the SEC’s allegations.”