Billionaire’s $2B insurance fraud scheme paid for private jets, dating services

A billionaire and insurance mogul with Bay Area ties was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after he orchestrated an elaborate scheme that defrauded multiple insurance companies out of $2 billion that he used to buy mansions and private jets, the U.S. Department of Justice said. 

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San Mateo native Greg Lindberg, 56, was sentenced on Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on charges related to a multibillion-dollar fraud conspiracy that bankrupted several insurance companies and policyholders, the DOJ announced in a news release. 

Lindberg, now a Florida resident, was the founder and chairman of North Carolina-based international private equity and financial services firm Eli Global LLC, and Global Bankers Insurance Group, which managed international life insurance and reinsurance companies. Bloomberg Businessweek reported in December 2024 that Lindberg’s net worth had been more than $1 billion. 

“Thousands of policyholders suffered substantial financial hardship as a result of Lindberg’s fraud scheme, which left multiple companies in or on the brink of liquidation,” Nicole Argentieri, principal deputy assistant attorney for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a November 2024 news release. “The Justice Department will not hesitate to hold corporate executives accountable when they threaten critical sectors of the economy, like the insurance industry, to enrich themselves.”

Lindberg and his co-conspirators used companies he managed based in North Carolina, Bermuda and Malta to invest more than $2 billion in loans in several entities he owned between 2016 and 2019. The DOJ said that he benefited from the scheme, in part, by “forgiving” more than $125 million in loans to himself. Some of the money he laundered was used to buy jets and a 200-foot luxury yacht, the DOJ continued. 

Lindberg also laundered more than $21 million toward expenses on women, according to Bloomberg. Among his lavish spending was $2 million toward matchmaking and dating services, as well as more than $600,000 for “reproductive services.” In 2024, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that Lindberg had at least 12 children, including six or more born from 25 women who either were surrogates or egg donors in what the publication called a network “built largely through manipulation and deceit.” 

The DOJ said that Lindberg’s scheme began to fall apart around April 2017, when he bribed the commissioner of insurance for the North Carolina Department of Insurance with $1 million to remove the NCDOI’s senior deputy commissioner, who oversaw the regulations for his company, Global Bankers Insurance Group. In May 2024, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and bribery. Lindberg pleaded guilty to the $2 billion fraud and money laundering scheme that same year. In 2025, Lindberg sought a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump but was unsuccessful, as North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey urged Trump not to grant it. 

Policyholders suffered financial hardship and are still owed more than $1 billion. Last year, Lindberg sold his company, Clanwilliam, for $349 million, which will go toward restitution for the insurance companies he defrauded, Bloomberg reported. A restitution hearing is also expected to be scheduled following his sentencing.