GOOD NEWS FOR “COASTAL KICKBACK” INVESTIGATION?
|| By FITSNEWS || A scheduled sentencing hearing for former S.C. Rep. Thad Viers won’t be held this week after all …
Viers, 37, was supposed to appear before U.S. District Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks on Wednesday in Florence, S.C. to learn his fate related to a money laundering charge he pleaded guilty to back in April. Thirteen other charges against Viers were dropped when he entered his plea – all of them related to his dealings with a shady paving contractor looking to hide more than $500,000 worth of assets from an insurance company seeking to collect on a $6 million debt.
That contractor, 55-year-old Marlon Davis Weaver, was sentenced to 12 months and one day for his role in the scam – and ordered to repay $1.2 million. Another co-defendant – Conway, S.C. pastor Archie Larue Evans – got seven years in jail.
Viers served nearly a decade in the S.C. House of Representatives beginning in 2003. He resigned his seat in March of 2012 prior to being indicted on harassment charges related to his toxic relationship with Candace Bessinger – the granddaughter of South Carolina barbecue magnate Maurice Bessinger. He later pleaded guilty to those charges and served sixty days in jail.
Hendricks could send Viers to a federal prison for up to ten years and fine him up to $250,000.
So … what’s the reason for the delay in his sentencing?
According to court documents, Viers’ attorney says more time is needed to “narrow the issues between the parties and to prepare adequately for sentencing.”
The attorney added the court must consider other factors which “involve persons and locations outside the local Florence Division or otherwise require additional time to gather.”
The hottest rumor on the coast? That Viers is working with prosecutors in their ongoing investigation of the infamous “Coastal Kickback,” arguably the most brazen campaign finance scandal in South Carolina history.
In the spring of 2009, hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash were funneled through a fabricated network of corporations to select politicians in exchange for their support of a local tax hike. The entity accused of orchestrating the scam? The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce – which controls the revenue from the tax hike (an estimated $20 million a year).
In addition to allegedly setting up its shadowy contributor network, the chamber has also been accused of steering proceeds from the tax hike to businesses that supported it – without any transparency or competitive bidding process.
In the spring of 2010, the scandal appeared on the verge of being swept under the rug – but local activists kept making noise and blogs like FITS kept applying pressure. Eventually the local mainstream media picked up the scent – and the feds launched their investigation in June of 2010.
Viers was one of the current or former state lawmakers who received funds through the Coastal Kickback. Others included fiscally liberal S.C. Senator Ray Cleary and State Rep. Alan Clemmons.
We’ve been demanding accountability on the Coastal Kickback for years … only to be denied.
Will Viers be the one who delivers justice?
We’ll see …
29 comments
Pastor gets seven years for his role in a scam?
Wonder how his congregation feels about that one!
I just searched…preacher man ran a Ponzi scheme and took a plea in 2013 and is serving 7 years for that. I don’t see any connection to the Weaver/Viers case so far.
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/crime/article16639214.html
He was found not guilty of trying to take a gun into federal court in 2014 earlier this year.
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?list=195106&id=1159000#.VdHgMDZRFhg
He was a busy guy… when did he find time to minister to his flock?
I guarantee he made time about 3 times per week to “Shear” that flock. Organized religion, NOT Religion in itself, should be a crime, it usually is.
Coastal Kickback – Wasn’t something similar happening down there around the time of the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary and money in envelopes being given to some of those candidates ?
Was it Gresham Barrett who returned/donated money to charity he received?
Which was the sequentially numbered cashier checks case?
You are only about 5 years behind.Par for the course.This subject was closed years ago.
Hey, I seriously wanted someone to refresh my memory and let me know which info belonged with which situation and if there were two separate cases or one big, big case.
Set my facts straight…what do you think question marks are for?
Google it. ‘Coastal Kickback’ and the ‘Myrtle Beach Mafia’ are non existent phrases or entities that NEVER were-except in the minds of those delusional.
You’re the expert on delusional.
As for Viers and the investigation, I have no extensive comment. Just an observation: Maybe so, maybe no. If he rats out the worst of ’em, good for him. If not, maybe he’ll rat out some other deserving perps. It’s all good.
There’s actually a lot of worse shit going on out there than “Coastal Kickback.” Some of it even more “brazen.”
As for the Wren/Kelly suit, when it begins to be cited as case law in defamation suits involving journalists and public figures, you will know it actually meant something.
Here’s a hint: It won’t be. And it didn’t. No matter what happens with the investigation, TSN/McClatchy will never have to pay a dime. The appeal will succeed. Either because the case really is still hot (or hot again), or because it will be judged to have been a stupid, ill-considered verdict to begin with.
Time will tell. As it always does.
Pro tip: never rely on the statement of an anonymous troll.
The “Coastal Kickback” case is the matter of the sequentially-numbered cashiers checks.
True dat.
The hottest rumor on the coast? That Viers is working with prosecutors in their ongoing investigation of the infamous “Coastal Kickback,” arguably the most brazen campaign finance scandal in South Carolina history.
Read more at https://www.fitsnews.com/2015/08/17/thad-viers-wont-be-sentenced-this-week-after-all/#XHwhTmfKYy7iF6cm.99
LMAO!!! What horseshit-‘the most brazen campaign finance scandal ‘ in South Carolina history’? Not ONE person has been arrested or charged with ANYTHING. ONE person has been running around in Horry County making false allegations and libeling public/private persons/agencies in regards to this matter…NOTHING has been proved except The Sun News and it’s reporter/writer were SUED by former politician and lobbyist Mark Kelly for libel and lost a judgement for $650,000 on this VERY subject:
.
An Horry County jury ruled in favor of Myrtle Beach area lobbyist Mark Kelley against The Sun News and investigative reporter David Wren on claims Kelley was defamed in articles written in 2010 about campaign contributions made a year earlier.
The jury awarded $400,000 in actual damages and $250,000 in punitive damages against the newspaper and Wren. The jury deliberated for more than four hours before reaching unanimous verdicts on the two types of damages.
Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article16666328.html#storylink=cpy
I can’t believe the ‘fly’ talked you into this bizzaro fantasy :)
Are we getting ready for the same kickback here in Lex ? AKA hospitality tax ?
For those who don’t know, “the fly” is a phrase this obsessed troll picked up from certain people on the old “SNOB” blog on the Sun News site, and it refers to me. Funny thing is, the person who first used it is now a dear friend. She called me that one time, when she didn’t know the whole story behind my feud with a another guy who posted on that forum. But that guy sure ran with that, along with a string of outright lies about me and my family.
Funny thing is, that former high-rolling, drunk driving fool is now a broken-down near-derelict, living in a seedy hotel in Garden City, within crawling distance of his favorite bar — where he got tanked up to the eyeballs and beyond two 4th of Julys ago. Leading to an arrest for DUI, hit and run, and destruction of public property. Ran into a couple of cop cars, I hear, in Surfside. OOPS!!!
Now he is shunned by all of the “big cheeses” in Myrtle Beach that he claimed to be defending when he attacked me on “The SNOB (Sun News Opinion Blog). How the mighty have fallen, huh? But this lunatic “pogo” (“flip”, etc.) is still running the same old bullshit rants about me. Obsession is a horrible thing.
As for Viers and the investigation, I have no extensive comment. Just an observation: Maybe so, maybe no. If he rats ’em out, good for him. If not, maybe he’ll rat out some other deserving creep. It’s all good.
There’s actually a lot of worse shit going on out there than “Coastal Kickback.” Some of it even more “brazen.”
As for the Wren/Kelly suit, when it begins to be cited as case law in defamation suits involving journalists and public figures, you will know it actually meant something.
Here’s a hint: It won’t be. No matter what happens with the investigation, TSN/McClatchy will never have to pay a dime. The appeal will succeed. Either because the case really is still hot (or hot again), or because it will be judged to have been a stupid, ill-considered verdict to begin with.
Time will tell. As it always does.
“…prepare adequately for sentencing…
Does that involve the lubrication and stretching of certain orifices?
Do you teach that class? Your specialty?
Why are you looking for help with that? Sorry, not in my field.
No.Just seemed liked a perverted comment for a teacher/brainwasher of young people in academia . Carry on.
If you think that was perverted, you should spend some time around college students…
Perhaps Mushroom could make use of a couple of cans of WD40
As a result of his near fatal Coitus Interruptus down in Florida Ravavenl may be one to help out a fellow peckerhead
After his first few prison showers, he realized why they
call a prison term a ‘stretch’.
—————
On his first night in prison he made a big mistake. Apparently ‘I’ll toss you for the top bunk’ means something different on the inside.
————–
He’s not saying he’s ugly, but in prison the
other inmates made him shower alone in case he dropped the soap.
I love it when you ask that question! YES !!!
First Ravenel, and now Thad Viers. You are SO relevant. Your news judgment is impeccable. What top-tier institution trained you? They must be so proud.
Without FITSNews, where would the the most-ignorant and ass-backward Democrats in the state get their gospel?
Good point, nothing is going to come from anyone in SC government.
So Thad is going to use that John Holmes like dong to penetrate some other bad people?
I guess I’m ok with that.
He resigned his seat in March of 2012 prior to being indicted on harassment charges related to his toxic relationship with Candace Bessinger – the granddaughter of South Carolina barbecue magnate Maurice Bessinger.
PRO TIP:
NOW would be a good time to post some pics of the BBQ Baroness Bessinger Babe’s Bodacious store-Bought Boobies.
EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make mine vinegar based.
mustard for me, please…
HEAR! HEAR! …… oops, I mean HERE – HERE..!!