North Carolina GOP chair, top political donor indicted for allegedly bribing an FBI informant

North Carolina's electoral issues just won't stop coming.

On Tuesday, unsealed indictments revealed a former GOP congressmember, the state's top political donor, and two others had been charged in an alleged scheme to bypass campaign donation limits. Greg Lindberg and two business associates were hit with bribery charges, while former congressmember and current GOP Chair Robin Hayes faces those charges and three counts of making false statements to the FBI, local station WRAL reports.

Lindberg is a "wealthy Durham businessman" who has donated millions of dollars to both parties, CBS affiliate WBTV describes. He recently donated $1.49 million to the state's Republican party, which gave $250,000 to Mike Causey's state insurance commissioner campaign in what the indictment alleges was "an attempt to get around political contribution limits," WRAL says. Lindberg, Hayes, and two others allegedly tried to give Causey those donations in exchange for eventual benefits from the state insurance department. A federal probe issued the charges against last month, but they weren't unsealed until Tuesday — just a day after Hayes announced he'd step down as state GOP chair in June.

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Meanwhile, North Carolina's 9th District House seat remains empty. The state's Board of Elections refused to certify the race over concerns of ballot tampering that benefited apparent GOP winner Mark Harris. The board ordered a new election for the seat last month, but Harris said he would not run again due to health concerns.