SC House Ethics Committee reveals findings from RJ May investigation

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) – On Tuesday, the South Carolina House Ethics Committee publicly revealed findings from its investigation into former Representative Robert John May III, concluding that he violated multiple ethical standards, including failing to pay taxes for years and misusing his legislative office.

May, a former Lexington County Republican and founder of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus in South Carolina, was indicted in June 2025 on 10 federal counts related to the distribution and possession of child sexual abuse material. According to the indictment, May used the messaging app Kik under the aliases “joebidennnn69” and “Eric Rentling” to send and receive hundreds of explicit videos.

Despite the charges, May remained a sitting member of the House during the 2025 legislative session. He resigned in August and, in September, accepted a federal plea deal. He is currently awaiting sentencing, which will take place in January 2026.

The ethics investigation began in late June when House Majority Leader Rep. Davey Hiott (R – Pickens) formally requested a look into May’s behavior, citing “conduct unbecoming of a member” and alleging misuse of business relationships with other legislators.

The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to proceed and hired outside counsel.

Under House rules, the identity of the member under investigation was not publicly disclosed until the findings were presented on October 14.

Mark Moore with Maynard Nexsen was the outside counsel along with his team.

Moore said the investigation has concluded with findings that, “Mr. May distributed child sex abuse materials, a heinous crime. He did so while he was a member of this body. He did so during a time period in which this body was in session. While on Easter furlough [April 2024], he was conducting business of the House of Representatives and of his political consulting business, at the same time that he was distributing this child sex abuse material. We have evidence.”

Moore stated that May violated Title 18, U.S. Code § 1001, which prohibits making false statements to the government, as well as possibly other federal laws.

While May claimed in court that his only asset was his Chevrolet truck, qualifying him for a public defender, Moore’s investigation found that May did not share his full income. Moore said, according to May, he has outstanding accounts receivable, including payments allegedly owed by current and former lawmakers.

Hiott’s letter also referenced May’s political consulting firm, Ivory Tusk Consulting. May worked on several campaigns for current and former lawmakers including those who lost in elections. Moore subpoenaed records from the South Carolina Department of Revenue and discovered that neither May nor his company filed any state income tax returns in 2022, 2023, or 2024.

“There is no evidence of state payment or filings of any state income taxes by Mr. May for those three years and no evidence of any tax filings,” Moore said.

Investigators interviewed former and current members of the House, many members of the Freedom Caucus, who had worked with Ivory Tusk Consulting. While some lawmakers cooperated, others did not.

Rep. Donald McCabe (R–Lexington) and Rep. Joe White (R–Lexington) were fully cooperative and voluntarily handed over requested materials.

However, Rep. Jay Kilmartin (R–Lexington), Rep. Stephen Frank (R–Greenville), and Rep. Jordan Pace (R–Berkeley), the current leader of the Freedom Caucus, either ignored multiple requests for interviews or refused to respond to communication with the investigative team, Moore said.

“We ultimately worked out an arrangement, where records would be produced to us by September 12, the records that were agreed to be produced to us were not fully produced by those three Representatives, and we had multiple communications about those failed productions,” Moore said. “We sent them another subpoena for bank records. We sent them subpoenas for testimony.”

“October the 6th, the three gentlemen appeared for a deposition through lawyers,” Moore added. “Their lawyers advised them not to answer questions because the questions were being put to them by outside counsel and not being put to them by members of this body.”

Moore noted that South Carolina law requires elected officials to retain financial records, including bank statements, invoices, and donation and expenditure reports, for four years. These were the types of documents his team was seeking from May and his associates.

May did not responded to any requests or communication with the South Carolina House Ethics Committee or Moore’s team.

The hearing concluded with the committee closing the investigation and issuing referrals for ethics violations to two current lawmakers, along with an additional referral for tax-related concerns involving another.