The Wake County District Attorney has dismissed a complaint against the North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore as well as allegations made against the speaker in an anonymous letter.
“Over the past few months the State Bureau of Investigation, at the request of the Wake County District Attorney, has conducted an inquiry into payments made by the NC Bail Association and pharmaceutical company KNOWBio to North Carolina Speaker Tim Moore,” Freeman said Monday in a statement.
“Following this review, we have determined that these fees were for legal services paid to Mr. Moore in his capacity as an attorney,” said Freeman.
“This review found no misuse of public office for private gain or other wrongdoing as to these payments and we, therefore, are closing the inquiry into this matter without further action,” Freeman said.
“Unfortunately, deceptive and politically motivated criticisms seem to be the norm in our current political climate,” Speaker Moore said in response to the end of the inquiry.
“I appreciate the careful and professional way the District Attorney and the SBI handled the anonymous allegations that were made against me,” said Speaker Moore.
I appreciate the confidence that North Carolina voters have placed in me and I will continue working to maintain their trust every day in the state House of Representatives. https://t.co/fUln1gOxAL
— Speaker Tim Moore (@NCHouseSpeaker) January 29, 2019
The Wake County District Attorney’s inquiry revolved around $40,000 in legal fees paid to Moore by Neal Hunter in 2017. Hunter owns a start-up pharmaceutical business in Durham called KNOW Bio and Moore said the fees dealt with the business and tax research for startups.
The alleged conflict of interest arose from legislation passed by Moore years earlier which expanded water and sewer to an upscale neighborhood outside Durham that Neal Hunter had a stake in.
The second part of the Wake District Attorney’s inquiry involves an anonymous letter containing allegations that Speaker Moore’s legal work done in 2012 for the N.C. Bail Agents Association was tied to proposed legislation.
The anonymous letter alleges Moore had been seeking legislation that would give N.C. Bail Agents an edge over their competition.
In a statement last October, Speaker Moore said that “My work as a private attorney and businessman has never conflicted with my public service in the General Assembly.”
Moore said he was paid $10,000 in fees by the bail agents’ group but said the letter was otherwise “full of lies.”
According to reports, the anonymous letter was written by a Republican state house legislator. To date, no one has taken credit for the letter.
The inquiry by the Wake District Attorney follows the dismissal by the State Board of Elections and Ethics of a different complaint against Moore.
In late December 2018, a David Brock backed progressive non-profit had their ethics complaint against Speaker Moore dismissed by the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement.
David Brock is known for being a Democratic political operative tied to George Soros and Hillary Clinton, as well as the founder of a progressive propaganda outlet known as Media Matters
The 2018 complaint accused Speaker Moore of using his office to improperly “to secure preferential treatment for his personal financial gain” with respect to a Southeast Land Holdings property sale.
The dismissal document notes that the tax incentives claim was quickly found to be without merit and was dismissed in May of 2018.
The Brock-tied group Campaign for Accountability (CfA) has since filed a second complaint using the same charges but claiming ‘new evidence.
“This complaint is a meritless election-year political ploy,” House Speaker Tim Moore said at the time the 2018 complaint was filed. Moore has not yet commented on CfA or the new ethics complaint.
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A.P. Dillon is the North Carolina Bureau Chief for The Tennesee Star and a reporter at Battleground State News. Follow A.P. Dillon on Twitter. Email Tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Tim Moore” by Tim Moore.
