South Carolina AG Alan Wilson Has Second Ethics Investigation Opened On Him Within 2 Months

South Carolina Attorney General and Governor-hopeful Alan Wilson is under scrutiny for a second state ethics investigation amid allegations of misusing campaign funds to the point that potentially violated multiple state law codes.

According to a letter obtained by Palmetto State Watch Foundation that is dated July 15, 2025, the South Carolina State Ethics Commission states that this 2nd complaint “contained facts sufficient to warrant an investigation.”

As previously reported in May, the State Ethics Commission opened an investigation into the four-term attorney general regarding allegations that Wilson used $25,000 of campaign funds to finance his 50th birthday party at Williams Brice Stadium. The first complaint, submitted by Lee Granade, explained that this amount “grossly exceeded” campaign donation limits and that campaign funds were then used for a birthday party that was not a fundraiser. Lee stated in her complaint that this money appeared to have been washed through Wilson’s account by “refunding” the money to a “SC Conservative Action Fund” which does not seem to exist according to the SC Secretary of State’s office or other authorities. Granade also considers both a “pay to play” payment that seems to be used quite often among powerful GOP donors. Read more HERE and HERE.

Addendum to First Complaint

Before we get into the second complaint, let’s take a look into Granade’s recent addendum to the first complaint. FitsNews wrote an article in May on the first investigation and included a lengthy statement from Alan Wilson’s campaign spokesperson Kurt Pickhardt that dismissed the complaint but may have said too much. The addendum dated July 11, 2025 is “to include an apparent admission by the Wilson campaign…based on the…FITSNEWS article dated 5.16.25 titled “S.C. Attorney General Focus Of Ethics Complaint,” a spokesperson for Alan Wilson claims, “one check of many raised that evening went to the wrong bank resulting in a banking deposit error.”

This addendum states that this omission from the Wilson campaign may violate SC Code Section 8-13-1312 that prohibits a candidate from establishing more than one campaign checking and one savings account for each office sought, unless federal or state law requires additional accounts.

Second Complaint Alleges Three Violations

This second complaint alleges three specific violations:

1. A suspicious returned check lacking necessary details (cites four potential laws that may have been violated)
2. The misuse of government resources for AG Wilson’s birthday party
3. A disingenuous payment to a Utah resort when the RAGA would not pay in August 2021.

Let’s take a close look at the evidence provided in this complaint by the self-proclaimed “disappointed constituent” to the “AG, wannabe governor”:

“Suspicious Returned Check”

This first point in the 2nd complaint cites a $3,500.00 donation from “First Community Bank” in Lexington dated January 12, 2023. In the description of this donation, it states that the donation is a “returned check from contribution.” Three possible violations of state law are cited in the complaint that make it clear that candidates must list the name and address of each person’s contribution.

“Misuse of Gov’t Resources for AG’s Birthday Party”

The complaint cites comments made to FitsNews by Wilson’s campaign spokesperson that “there were many checks acquired at the grand 50th birthday party for AG Wilson. The AG office staff were in attendance after having been contacted and subsequently provided their RSVP via their state-sponsored email addresses in questionably appropriate allocations of government resources to benefit the AG’s campaign.” Following this statement, the complaint includes several emails between the Wilson’s office staff and Wilson’s campaign email, RVSPing their attendance.

This possibly violates SC Code Section 8-13-1180 that an elected official/elected official’s agent “may not knowingly solicit a contribution from an employee in the elective official’s area of official responsibility.”

“Disingenuous Payment to a Utah Resort When the RAGA Would Not Pay (August 2021)”

In the final point, the complaint asks the State Ethics Commission to consider if “one night at the Stein Erickson Lodge was paid under false pretenses by the campaign because Wilson disingenuously called it a “fundraiser” when it was actually the (unpaid) night before the RAGA meeting that he was attending.”

RAGA, or the Republican Attorneys General Association, is a political organization focusing on electing Republicans as state attorney general. The current Executive Director is Adam Piper, a political operative who currently reside in Raleigh, North Carolina who has been involved in South Carolina politics since the early 2000s. Piper’s resume includes working for Americans for Prosperity, campaign manager for Alan Wilson and later Wilson’s Public Affairs Director, served as third vice chair of the SCGOP and more that you can find on his LinkedIn page. Before coming to RAGA in 2018, Piper served as the Executive Director of the SC Attorney General’s office. Piper left RAGA right after January 6th, 2021, but returned to his Executive Director position in February 2025.

Wilson inherited the RAGA chairmanship from Georgia’s AG Chris Carr who also resigned over differing opinions of January 6th events. Alan Wilson was “unanimously affirmed” as the RAGA Chairman in May of 2021, just a couple months before this alleged disingenuous payment to a Utah Resort for the “RAGA Summer Meeting.”

The complaint contains an email from Wilson’s executive assistant that tells staff to get their flights as “they are selling out very fast.” The assistant ends the email letting staff know that “Alan will be departing afternoon of the 14th and return the morning of the 18th; however, RAGA will not pay for hotels for staff until the 15th.”

Crickets From The Wilson Campaign

I reached out to Wilson’s campaign twice over the past several days and have not received a response. For a campaign that was so excited to defend the first investigation, you would think there would be a response to the second investigation launched within two months…but maybe the campaign trail became really busy the past week.

The South Carolina Policy Council released a new poll on July 28th regarding who South Carolinians favor for governor. For Republican voters, 16% selected Nance Mace, 15% chose Alan Wilson, 8% for Pam Evette, 6% for Ralph Norman, 3% for Josh Kimbrell, and 52% remain undecided. This is not only a significant drop for Wilson who previously won earlier polling, but leaves a wide margin for whichever candidate can swing the majority of that 52% undecided.

The 2026 South Carolina Governor’s race is far from over and if these investigations continue to stack up on the Wilson’s campaign, it’s going to be increasingly intriguing.

Article posted with permission from Palmetto State Watch Foundation

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