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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Thursday, October 12, 2006

FORMER LOTTERY COMMISSIONER FOUND GUILTY
ON FIVE COUNTS OF MAIL FRAUD

RALEIGH - United States Attorney George E. B. Holding announced today that a jury in Raleigh convicted KEVIN L. GEDDINGS, 42, of St. Augustine, Florida, on five counts of honest services mail fraud in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 1341 and 1346. The jury returned its verdict following a three-week trial in federal court before United States District Judge James C. Dever, III.

United States Attorney Holding stated that “the jury’s verdict is a clear message to the people of North Carolina that public servants may not lie to the people, may not hide the truth from the people, and may not profit upon the people’s back. If they do so, they violate their duty of honest services. This is not a mere ethical lapse worthy of slap on the wrist. It is a crime. It is a felony. It is punishable by up to twenty years in prison.”

Investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Attorney’s Office, in cooperation with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office.

United States Attorney Holding further stated that several state agencies cooperated in the investigation and trial. Those state agencies include The North Carolina Education Lottery Commission, the North Carolina Board of Ethics, and the Office of the Governor. Scientific Games, Inc., and its attorneys were also very cooperative in making information and witnesses available through out the course of the investigation and trial.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney John Stuart Bruce and Senior Assistant United States Attorney Dennis Duffy handled the case for the government.

News releases are available on the U. S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.