Operation Lost Trust

The FBI supplied Cobb with a boat located in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and an office in Atlanta for the purposes of misleading state lawmakers into believing that he represented the Alpha Group, a fake organization seeking support for a bill legalizing dog and horse-track betting.

[4] Five legislators, including State Representative Robert A. Kohn (R),[3] were initially indicted for failure to disclose the payments and violating the Hobbs Act.

Those convicted included:[5][6] At that time, South Carolina required that state lawmakers report any campaign contributions they received to the respective ethics committee of their governing body.

After the initial five indictments made the news, Governor Carroll A. Campbell Jr. (R) and Speaker of the House Robert Sheheen (D) both stated that reforms to this system were in order.

[40] The South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus raised concerns about the large number of African American lawmakers charged during the investigation.