Wed, Jan 7, 2015

With plea negotiations going nowhere, former state Rep. Thad Viers is preparing for a trial on more than a dozen felony charges, including money laundering, racketeering-related financial transactions and lying to the IRS, his attorney said Tuesday.

During a brief hearing in federal court, Viers’ lawyer Trey Cockrell asked Judge Bruce Howe Hendricks for additional time to obtain more documents from prosecutors. Tuesday’s hearing was supposed to indicate whether Viers would plead guilty or proceed to trial.

Hendricks agreed to let Viers postpone that decision until the following term of court. A date for Viers’ next appearance has not been set.

After the hearing, Cockrell said the prosecutors’ records will help him determine if he needs to bring in additional experts to assist with the case. He said plea talks have failed.

“It’s 100 percent going to trial,” he said.

Viers, who attended Tuesday’s hearing, declined to comment and referred all questions to his lawyer.

The case against the former legislator stems from allegations that Viers tried to help law firm client Marlon Weaver hide assets from an insurance company that was trying to collect money on a construction bond.

Weaver has pleaded guilty to a felony money laundering charge. Weaver admits he tried to hide money he made from the 2010 sale of Bucksport Marina from an insurance company that had provided a $6 million bond for a road paving project his company was supposed to complete. Among the assets Weaver pledged as security for the bond was his one-fifth interest in the marina.

Weaver is accused of back-dating documents to make it appear as if he had transferred his interest in the marina to his daughters prior to his company’s default on the road paving project.

Prosecutors say Viers knew Weaver was trying to hide the money and helped him form a limited liability corporation that purportedly transferred Weaver’s interest in the marina to his daughters. An indictment states Viers also made 12 withdrawals totaling $524,000 from a trust account he set up and gave that money to Weaver. Prosecutors say Viers knew that money came from Weaver’s illegal activity related to the marina sale.

They also say Viers lied to an IRS investigator earlier this year when he said he was not aware that Weaver was trying to hide assets from the insurance company.

Viers served in the S.C. House of Representatives from 2003-12. He represented District 68, which includes Socastee. A graduate of Socastee High School and the University of South Carolina law school, Viers was a frontrunner for the open U.S. House District 7 seat in 2012 before withdrawing from the race when he was accused of stalking a former girlfriend.

With his latest criminal case, Viers faces 14 charges that carry up to 145 years in prison.