North Carolina House speaker accused of trading group sex for political favours

North Carolina’s House speaker has been accused of trading group sex for political favours in a lawsuit filed by a former Apex City councilman.

The lawsuit accuses Speaker Tim Moore of being involved in group sex activities with individuals seeking to earn his political favour and was brought by former councilman Scott Riley Lassiter, who also claims Mr Moore had an affair with his estranged wife.

Mr Lassiter is suing Mr Moore and an unnamed defendant for alienation of affections and civil conspiracy, according to WSOC. Mr Lassiter is suing for damages.

According to documents seen by Channel 9, Mr Lassiter claims that Mr Moore “used his position as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives to initiate contact and develop a personal relationship with Mrs. Lassiter, despite knowing that she was married to Plaintiff”.

Mr Moore and an unnamed defendant are being sued by Mr Lassiter, who said he became aware of his wife having an affair with Mr Moore after rumours spread around state government – where his wife works as executive director of the North Carolina Conference of Clerks of Superior Court.

In the legal filing, Mr Lassiter argues that “Moore used his position as one of the most powerful elected officials in North Carolina to entice Plaintiff’s wife, (Liles Lassiter), a mid-level employee of the state government, to participate in an illicit relationship with him”.

Having heard the rumours, Mr Lassiter surveilled his wife Jamie Liles Lassiter on 21 December and took pictures of them outside a steakhouse. She had allegedly said that she was going to see a movie with a friend but her husband found out that she instead went for dinner with Mr Moore in Raleigh, according to the lawsuit.

The legal filing states that Mr Lassiter discovered that his spouse and Mr Moore went to the speaker’s home in the city, where they spent hours. The lawsuit included an image of the two outside the steakhouse.

In the lawsuit, Mr Lassiter claims that his wife confessed to the affair on 22 December last year and that “she had engaged in sexual activity with Defendant Tim Moore (including group sex with other individuals seeking Tim Moore’s political favor), and that she feared ending the relationship with [Moore] would result in losing her job”.

Mr Lassiter also claims that when he confronted Mr Moore about the allegation, meeting with him at a Raleigh Biscuitville on 26 December, where Mr Moore allegedly admitted that the affair had gone on for several years. At the end of that meeting, Mr Moore allegedly asked, “if there was anything he could do for Plaintiff, implying that he could use the power he held as Speaker in some way to benefit Plaintiff”.

The lawsuit states that Mr and Ms Lassiter attempted counselling but they went separate ways because Ms Lassiter was unwilling to stop seeing Mr Moore.

Both Mr Moore and Ms Lassiter deny the allegations, while Ms Lassiter also told WRAL that her former husband was “lashing out”.

“Scott Lassiter has serious mental health and substance abuse issues, which I can only assume led him to file this outrageous and defamatory suit,” Ms Lassiter said.

“The claims are not only false but impossible as we’ve been separated with a signed separation document for years,” she added. “To be clear, I’m a strong professional woman, and the only person who has ever abused me or threatened my career was my soon to be ex-husband. Our marriage was a nightmare, and since I left him it has gotten worse. We are reaching the end of our divorce process and this is how he’s lashing out.”

Mr Lassiter’s lawyer said in a statement to WRAL: “The complaint speaks for itself. There is irrefutable evidence to support Mr. Lassiter’s claims.”

The legal filing alleges that an unnamed man put up a camera on the Lassiter property to record footage. Mr Lassiter asserts that “Moore, either personally or through an agent authorized to act on his behalf, requested that Defendant John Doe unlawfully enter upon [Lassiter’s] real property and place a motion-activated camera ... to capture photos and videos of [Lassiter] that [Moore] could use to persuade [Lassiter] not to pursue any of the valid legal claims against him”.

An attorney for Mr Moore told WRAL, “I look forward to meeting Mr. Lassiter in the courtroom. We are confident the Speaker will be vindicated”.

North Carolina is just one of six states where a lawsuit for alienation of affection is possible.

Sodoma Law senior attorney David Simmons told WSOC that “this case, in particular, is quite fascinating”.

The firm isn’t involved in the case but often handles similar cases.

“You would look to prove you have a marriage with genuine love and affection,” he added. “It doesn’t have to be perfect but just a marriage with love and affection, the love and affection was destroyed and it was destroyed because of the malicious acts of a third party.”

The lawyer said that even if a separation document was signed, it might still not affect the case.

“As far as proving the acts of a third party have caused that marriage to no longer exist, you are still going to have those questions even if the separation agreement has been executed,” he said.

Rosen Law Group attorney Lindsay Willis told WRAL that the defendants have 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.

“Right now, we only get to see the plaintiff side of things,” she said, adding that most cases regarding affairs are settled out of court.

“It’s explosive to file this knowing you are going to have so many eyes on it,” she said. “For the most part, people don’t take it this far.”