COLOMBIA – In September 2017, then state deputy Peter McCoy was listening to SCANA taxpayers across South Carolina against the company’s high energy prices during a Statehouse committee hearing, when a notification appeared on his phone with some pertinent news.
Investigators were launching a criminal investigation into the canceled construction of two nuclear reactors, a $ 9 billion boondoggle considered the biggest business failure in the state’s history, as McCoy led the legislative response as chairman of the panel charged with dealing with the crisis.
Three and a half years later, McCoy will be brought to court on February 24, representing the federal government as a South Carolina attorney, when former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh formally entered his guilty plea for covering up major flaws in the summer VC project during the dealership continued to defraud taxpayers for costs.
Marsh’s guilty plea will provide adequate support for McCoy’s term as South Carolina’s top federal prosecutor, crowning his years-long effort to hold responsible what used to be one of South Carolina’s most powerful companies for his role in the scandal – first at the Statehouse and now in court.
“The circle really does close,” McCoy told The Post and Courier in an exit interview, as he prepares to leave his job after almost a year. “There is a sense of completion and satisfaction in protecting the South Carolina taxpayer and getting him to the finish line.”
As is customary at the beginning of any new administration, the United States Department of Justice, under President Joe Biden, has asked almost all Trump-appointed attorneys to resign from office by the end of the month.
McCoy complied with the request and submitted his letter of resignation to Biden this week, starting February 28, writing that serving in office was “the honor of my life”.
“Working daily with the dedicated public servants of this office to impartially enforce the rule of law, defend our Constitution and make our communities more secure is a privilege for which I will be forever grateful,” wrote McCoy.
This means that McCoy will move on after just under a year on the job, with plans to return to private practice. Prior to becoming a United States attorney in March 2020, McCoy was a partner at McCoy & Stokes, a small family and criminal law firm based in Charleston. He said he will now work for a different company, but did not disclose details.
As the first US assistant attorney, Rhett DeHart must become an interim attorney until Biden appoints a replacement. Among the candidates for the role are David Pascoe, a lawyer for the first circuit, who oversaw the lengthy corruption investigation at the Statehouse, and executive director of the state’s Ethics Committee, Meghan Walker.
In addition to their legal work, South Carolina’s Republican circles are teeming with speculation about whether McCoy, 42, may soon return to electoral politics. When he became a United States attorney, McCoy gave up his position as chairman of the SC House Judiciary Committee, to which he had ascended just over a year earlier.
“The sky is the limit for him and his future,” said House majority leader Gary Simrill. “He’s very balanced, very pragmatic, very intelligent, so you saw him move up the ranks quickly because of that insight. He’s still young and he’s already a talented lawyer.”
The Charleston Statehouse vacancy he vacated passed to Democrats in 2020 with Spencer Wetmore’s victory, prompting SC GOP President Drew McKissick to say he hopes to persuade McCoy to run for the job again.
“I think he was very representative of that district and was a very hard-working candidate, and I think that makes a huge difference,” said McKissick.
But others hope McCoy will aim for more than that, presenting him as one of the top candidates to replace Republican attorney general Alan Wilson, whether in 2022 or 2026. Wilson has yet to announce whether he will run for reelection next year to seek a fourth term in office.
“He’s a smart guy, wiser than his age, politically savvy and won in a district that has now proven to be one of those that are not just a Republican district,” said veteran Republican strategist Walter Whetsell. “That’s the kind of candidate you’re looking for for a party.”
Even Democrats who worked closely with McCoy say he is the type of figure they would like to see in a prominent role, extolling their willingness to work at the altar.
“If I were a betting man, I would certainly bet that you will see Peter McCoy’s name in a vote again somewhere in the future, and I hope that is the case,” said state deputy Russell Ott, D-St. Matthews, who co-chaired the McCoy House special committee that worked to reform South Carolina’s utility laws after the VC summer disaster.
McCoy acknowledged that he thought long and hard about a return to the political arena, although not about any specific positions.
“Public service is very important to me,” said McCoy. “I think giving back to the state is one of the greatest honors anyone can do. So, for sure, it will definitely be on my mind and something for which the doors will always be open.”
The path for the attorney general would not be unprecedented. Now-Gov. Henry McMaster was South Carolina’s attorney in the United States during the Ronald Reagan administration before becoming attorney general in 2003.
“Peter McCoy has done a good job as a US lawyer and is qualified for all types of positions,” said McMaster. “He’s a very respected man, a lawyer, with a good family. I don’t know what he’s going to do, but I wish him well because we have a huge talent in South Carolina and he is certainly part of that.”
McCoy’s extensive background in his short term as a United States attorney can provide a formidable platform on which to base a campaign to become the state’s top lawyer.
Along with the 62 assistant attorneys he oversaw, McCoy sued hundreds of criminals, raising more than $ 54 million for the state with convictions in 2020 alone, according to his office.
Shortly after taking an oath in the midst of a growing pandemic, McCoy created a “COVID Attack Team” to investigate fraud schemes against coronavirus, accumulation and price manipulation.
In a particularly noteworthy case out of the more than 150 they analyzed, seven people were charged with laundering more than $ 750,000 in fraudulently obtained funds, including more than $ 390,000 from a Salary Protection Program loan.
In what McCoy proclaimed as the biggest federal extortion conspiracy in South Carolina’s history, he accused 40 defendants in December for building a vast criminal company in state prisons.
He also stepped up the firm’s focus on human trafficking, suing 50 defendants last year and assisted in the legal response to the disturbances in Columbia and Charleston last summer and in Washington, DC, on January 6.
Bill Nettles, who was a South Carolina attorney in the United States for four years under former President Barack Obama, praised McCoy’s work in his previous role.
“Peter accepted this job in difficult circumstances – and there was a pandemic,” said Nettles. “And I think he did a very good job of navigating all of these situations.”
But Nettles added that McCoy may find leaving his job easier than he expected.
“I am one of the few who thinks it is really better to be a former US attorney than a US attorney,” said Nettles.
McCoy said the confessions of Marsh and former SCANA vice president Steve Byrne stand out as highlights of his term.
Ott remembers talking to cynical constituents when the SCANA investigations began, who questioned whether anything would happen, noting that these types of powerful executives in powerful companies often find a way to escape punishment.
“I wanted to say at the time, ‘No, we’re not going to let that happen,'” said Ott. “But then I thought to myself, they can, because that’s really what people have come to expect.”
So, Ott said, it is “refreshing” to see Marsh and Byrne facing responsibility – and poetic that McCoy was the one who handed it over to them.
“I’m sure he hates having to leave, but I’m happy that he did,” said Ott. “I’m happy that Peter McCoy was there at the beginning and I’m happy that he was there at the end.”