COVINGTON, Ga. — According to a press release from the United State’s Attorney’s Office, Marcello Banes, Chairman of the Newton County Board of Commissioners, and Stephanie Lindsey, incumbent District 3 commissioner, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to money laundering through a wire fraud.
U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan spoke specifics to the type of laundering Banes and Lindsey were allegedly involved.
“By allegedly laundering proceeds obtained from a fraud conspiracy, these defendants violated the trust placed in them by their client, their constituents and their fellow commissioners,” Buchanan said in the release. “Public officials who undermine the public’s faith in our institutions by abusing their power for personal gain must be held accountable.”
The release states that the allegations are tied to Banes’ involvement as Newton County’s representative on the Joint Development Authority (JDA). The JDA was established by Newton, Walton, Morgan and Jasper counties in 1999 as a way to “create an industrial area to attract industries to bring jobs and investment to the region.”
The indictment identifies a company known as “Company A” that desired to purchase “approximately 40 acres of JDA land. Banes responded to the aforementioned company by organizing an agreement between the company and Lindsey’s CSL Realty Group to where Company A would pay CSL Realty $150,000 once Company A purchased the land.
Further, the indictment also alleges that when the agreement was arranged, “Banes and Lindsey misled Company A into believing that the commission was only intended for Lindsey.” It was also based on the JDA voting to approve the sale of the land to Banes. According to the release’s articulation of the indictment, “had company A’s owners known Banes would receive any of the commission, they would not have entered the brokerage agreement.”
Banes, along with others on the JDA, voted to allow the purchase of the parcel during a January 22, 2019 JDA board meeting. The purchase was finalized on March 1, 2019.
Those aren’t the only charges Banes and Lindsey face.
Lindsey is also being charged with two federal tax violations from 2019 in which she allegedly claimed false business deductions for the sake of procuring tax breaks on the $150,000 payment. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Attorney’s Office release says “Banes is also charged with lying to FBI special agents during a 2023 interview.
According to the indictment, Banes told the FBI that he didn’t know Lindsey was involved in the aforementioned sale of the property.
Lindsey recently won a run-off election to unseat current District 3 commissioner Alana Sanders, while Banes defeated Newton County tax commissioner Marcus Jordan’s attempt to replace Banes as County Commissioner.
“This is a case of a public official breaking the public’s trust to enrich himself and a realtor who did not serve her client, but instead, assisted the public official in breaking the law,” said Demetrius Hardeman, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation at the Atlanta Field Office in the U.S. Attorney’s Office release.
“Criminal Investigation special agents, our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney’s office are working together to hold those who break the law accountable.”
The case is currently being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and IRS Criminal Investigation.
Attempts to reach Lindsey and Banes for comment were not immediately returned. We’ll have more on this story as information is made available.
