RALEIGH - Former House Speaker Jim Black, accustomed to a seat of power, stood before a federal judge Thursday and admitted to taking payments that prosecutors said amounted to $29,000 over four years.

The revelations contained in the court papers stunned the state capital's political community: Chiropractors looking for political favors handed over clumps of cash and a $4,000 check to Black at clubs and fancy restaurants in Charlotte and Concord. Two payoffs took place in bathrooms, including one interrupted by a restaurant employee.

"This is just between me and you," Black told one chiropractor, according to the court documents. "Don't you ever tell anybody about this."

In pleading guilty Thursday to accepting the money -- a corruption charge -- Black, 71, succumbed to a two-year criminal investigation by federal and state officials that drove him from office and into history as the center of one of the state's biggest political scandals.

The court papers made it clear that Black pocketed the money for himself, including a check that ended up in his bank account. It is not clear what Black did with the money.

U.S. District Judge James Dever III set sentencing for May 14 and released Black on $10,000 bond. Before his sentencing, court officials will investigate his background and crime. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine.

The court papers did not identify the chiropractors who handed over the cash and officials wouldn't say whether anyone else would be charged. Giving unreported cash to politicians in exchange for favors is prohibited by law.

Jason Whitley | jwhitley@charlotteobserver.com

TOP: Jim Black, Ken Bell BOTTOM: Judge James Dever III

U.S. Attorney George Holding said the investigation continues, and Black's plea agreement requires him to cooperate and testify when asked.

"That may make some people uncomfortable, but we look forward to it," Black's lawyer, Ken Bell of Charlotte, said.

Tracing the money

Federal prosecutors said the payments began between 2000 and 2002 when, according to court papers, "Black approached two chiropractors and informed them that cash payments would be more helpful than campaign contributions made by check."The chiropractors gave $8,000 at a Charlotte club in February 2002 and $10,000 at a club in December 2002.

At a Valentine's Day 2004 fundraiser at a Concord restaurant, they delivered $4,000 to Black during a meeting in the bathroom, plus a $4,000 check. A group of chiropractors sponsored a fundraiser for Black at Charlotte's Capital Grille on Dec. 3, 2005, and Black picked up another $3,000.

Bell said that although Black admitted to taking money, the amounts are incorrect. "We will contest that the amounts are inflated by the chiropractors," he said after the court hearing.

An optometrist from Matthews, Black spent 20 years in the N.C. House of Representatives. He was speaker for eight years, a position that, as prosecutors noted, gave him enormous influence over legislation.

Black resigned Wednesday after word of his impending plea agreement became public.

Charges Black faces

Prosecutors charged that Black used that influence to try to advance three pieces of legislation the chiropractors wanted, including a restriction on insurance co-payments that was enacted into law.

That provision prohibited insurance companies from charging a higher co-payment for chiropractors, who are not medical doctors, than for general practitioners performing the same treatment.

Two other pieces of legislation chiropractors sought didn't pass. One was a spinal safety law that would specify that only chiropractors and certain other health care professionals could treat patients by manipulating their spines.

The other unsuccessful proposal was a requirement that when an insurance company questions whether a chiropractor's treatment was effective or appropriate another chiropractor would perform the review.

Bell said the cash Black got from chiropractors did not go to other lawmakers.

"That money meant nothing to him personally," Bell said, "but it's a crime, and he's admitted that."

Last year the State Board of Elections investigated contributions to Black from chiropractors and subpoenaed two chiropractors, Fletcher Keith of Charlotte and Steve Willen of Greensboro.

Group's chief responds

Todd Shaver, a Wilmington chiropractor who heads the N.C. Chiropractic Association, said Thursday that his trade group is unaware of any illegal payments to lawmakers.

"We have never done anything with lawmakers that is not in a legal manner," he said. If association members are tied with the illegal payments, they face expulsion from the trade group, he emphasized.

Black arrived at the federal courthouse in Raleigh at 11:35 a.m., accompanied by Bell. He entered through a back door, keeping his distance from the gantlet of news media.

Thursday's pleading drew about 60 people to the seventh-floor courtroom: lawyers, investigators, curiosity seekers and a media contingent of about 30.

Dressed in a navy sports jacket and grey pants, Black entered the courtroom shortly before 1 p.m., walked to the front and immediately shook hands with John Bruce, one of two prosecutors in charge of Black's case.

His hands folded, Black answered most of Judge Dever's questions with a "yes, sir" or "no, sir." He rarely looked at the audience, and he declined to speak with the media.

"Do you understand, Dr. Black, that right now, at this very moment, you still have the right to plead `not guilty'?" Dever asked, about 20 minutes into the 48-minute proceeding.

"Yes, sir," Black replied.

Asked eventually to state a plea, Black replied, "Guilty." Prosecutors said they did not consider Black a danger to society or a flight risk. He will have to surrender his passport, but prosecutors did not object to returning it for occasional trips abroad prior to sentencing.

When the hearing was over and a marshal unlocked the doors, state Rep. Pete Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, and two unidentified women came forward to hug Black. Cunningham, a confidant of Black's and a fellow Navy veteran, said he brought the names of 35 supporters, including lawmakers, who wanted to be there.

To reporters later, Cunningham expressed surprise at what Black admitted to.

"I don't know Jim Black that way," he said. "I don't think he's a thief."

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