AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
A newly available search warrant in the Greater Carolina probe shows state investigators are considering embezzlement among the possible crimes in the case that initially stemmed from two bourbon tours the nonprofit took state lawmakers on in 2022 and 2024.
Read more NC identifies most likely source of brain-eating amoeba infection that killed teen
The search warrant focuses on expenditures made on two Greater Carolina credit cards for purchases that do not appear to be a part of the Mooresville-based nonprofit’s mission of promoting economic development through conservative-based ideas. Those expenditures include payments to two companies in the adult entertainment business, a Top Golf driving range in Atlanta, a vacation rental at Emerald Isle and to the Carolina Panthers.
Mooresville businessman David Coble is listed as director on Greater Carolina’s tax returns, but he is identified in the search warrant as the nonprofit’s treasurer. In May, he told Apex Business Consulting, a firm that did the nonprofit’s taxes, that he had inadvertently made roughly $30,000 in personal purchases on the credit cards, the search warrant said.
“David Coble determined which transactions should be treated as his personal expenditures to be repaid to Greater Carolina from his admitted inadvertent usage of Greater Carolina’s card to pay for personal items,” the search warrant said. “David Coble stated that he repaid Greater Carolina in 2026.”
“David Coble additionally requested Apex Business Consulting to (amend) the tax returns based on the updated financial statements to which they declined.”
Carolina Journal first reported the search warrant on Monday.
After talking with Apex Business Consulting’s owners, SBI Special Agent Kailah Kearney is now seeking access to Greater Carolina’s QuickBooks account to track the nonprofit’s financial dealings. Intuit is the company that makes the QuickBooks financial software.
“Based on the information in this affidavit, your affiant believes there is probable cause to believe that information contained in the records held by Intuit Corp. as described in the sections ‘Places to be searched” and “Items to be Seized” may be evidence of conduct and activities constituting the crime of Embezzlement of property received by virtue of office or employment,” the search warrant said.
Read more These Raleigh restaurants were the most-booked on OpenTable in August
So far, the Greater Carolina investigation launched by Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman a year ago has led to a misdemeanor charge against four lobbyists of violating the state’s gift ban. They are accused of getting their clients to underwrite some of the expenses of the 2024 bourbon tour, one of two in the Louisville, Kentucky, area. They have all denied the charge.
Nine lawmakers attended that tour, which included lobbyists and their clients, and became public after a distillery worker complained about their behavior in a Reddit post. Eleven lawmakers attended the 2022 tour, search warrants said.
One of them was then-Rep. Jason Saine, a Lincolnton Republican, who is closely affiliated with Greater Carolina and helped launch the bourbon tours, previous search warrants said. Saine is now a lobbyist.
Freeman has said the investigation has also expanded to include the M Group Companies, a Florida developer tied to roughly $500,000 in donations to Republican legislative candidates over the past five years, some of it from Coble, campaign records show. Republicans control the state legislature.
Coble worked for that company’s subsidiary, Mooresville BTR, which won $15 million from state lawmakers in the final version of the 2023 budget to build a road through a new residential development in Mooresville. The company also had been seeking to strike a contract to build a 600,000-square-foot liquor warehouse for the state Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
Read more This NC destination is one of the nation’s trendiest for fall trips, Airbnb says
This story was originally published September 15, 2026 at 4:47 PM.