5 Legislators and Lobbyist Charged in S.C. Scandal
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Five more representatives and a lobbyist were charged Friday in South Carolina’s growing statehouse scandal.
Reps. Thomas Limehouse, Ennis Fant, Larry Blanding, B. J. Gordon and Donna A. Moss were named in a federal indictment growing from the FBI sting into the state Legislature.
Limehouse, the only Republican in the group, was charged in a three-count indictment of two violations of the Hobbs Act, the federal anti-bribery law, for allegedly accepting $2,000, conspiracy to accept cash and an additional obstruction of justice charge.
Fant, Blanding and Gordon were charged together in one count of conspiracy to violate the Hobbs Act, and each was charged separately with accepting bribes.
Moss was charged with possession of cocaine during the 1989 legislative session.
Also charged was lobbyist James Madison Brown V, on one count of possession of marijuana in September, 1989.
The indictments have come as the result of an FBI sting, nicknamed “Operation Lost Trust,†which probed vote-buying in the General Assembly. Of five other legislators charged last month, three have pleaded guilty and another is expected to plead guilty this week.
The Hobbs Act carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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