INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – When Joseph “Trey” Hollingsworth III set his sights on political office in Indiana, opponents quickly criticized him as a multimillionaire carpetbagger from Tennessee using his family’s wealth to buy a reliably Republican seat in Congress.
Now an Associated Press review of public records shows that Hollingsworth’s company filed papers in five states that legally obligate the 33-year-old executive to live outside Indiana in order to represent his business interests.
As a “registered agent” for Hollingsworth Capital Partners, Hollingsworth is simultaneously required to live in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Ohio so that legal papers, including any lawsuits that might be filed against the company, can be served. In at least two of those states, it is a misdemeanor crime to submit a false document.
Hollingsworth’s campaign insists the filings were simply a clerical mistake, which they vowed to fix after the AP raised the issue this week.
But Indiana University law school professor Antony Page says it “appears highly likely” that Hollingsworth committed a misdemeanor in North Carolina, where submitting a document known to be “false in any material respect” is punishable by a fine up to a $500.