Givens sentenced to probation in S.C. State corruption trial
Ed Givens, a star prosecution witness in the June public corruption trial of former S.C. State University board chairman Jonathan Pinson, was sentenced Thursday to six months probation.
Federal Judge David Norton, who presided at the trial, handed down the sentence at the U.S. courthouse in Charleston.
The government had recommended the probationary sentence “because of Givens’ cooperation and substantial assistance” in the Pinson case, said acting U.S. Attorney Beth Drake.
Givens, 50, a former top lawyer and assistant to the president at S.C. State, was a key government witness during the 14-day trial, in which a jury found Pinson guilty of 29 counts of wrongdoing, including theft, money laundering, extortion and bribery. Because of his once-close relationship with Pinson, Givens was able to tell the jury about numerous acts and conversations the two men had that demonstrated illegal activity.
Givens described in great detail one of the alleged bribery schemes that the jury found Pinson guilty of – an illegal plan to make money by getting a friend of Pinson’s to be the band promoter for the university’s 2011 homecoming weekend.
Givens testified that he was deeply involved in the homecoming scheme. His testimony also shed light on another illegal Pinson scheme to get the university to buy a plot of land from one of Pinson’s business friends, Florida developer Richard Zahn.
However, Givens was not involved in two other illegal schemes the jury convicted Pinson on – one involving Columbia’s Village at River’s Edge housing development, the other involving the siphoning of federal funds meant to build a Marion County diaper plant.
Givens specifically pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, meaning he had knowledge of a crime and concealed it when asked about it by an FBI agent and a SLED agent.
Unknown to Givens, the FBI had been wiretapping and taping Pinson’s cellphone calls for several months before agents showed up at his office.
Before visiting Givens, the agents had listened to numerous conversations between Givens and Pinson as they talked about illegal and other schemes. Givens told agents he didn’t know about the scheme before changing his mind and agreeing to provide the state with evidence.
In one secretly recorded conversation, the FBI learned that Givens had agreed to accept $2,000 for his part in a kickback scheme involving the homecoming band scheme.
However, Givens only received $500 because the scheme didn’t produce as much profit as the planners believed it would.
Givens took that $500 and donated it to the university foundation before he knew the FBI was investigating, he testified at the June trial.
The S.C. Supreme Court has suspended Givens’ law license.