Stephen Goldfinch has been involved in several significant controversies over the past decade-plus.
The biggest episode was a federal criminal case tied to a stem-cell business he owned in his 20s. Federal prosecutors charged him in connection with misbranding stem cells shipped across state lines; he publicly acknowledged he would plead guilty to a misdemeanor, said an employee illegally sold cells without his knowledge, and accepted responsibility on the grounds that owners are liable for contractors’ actions under FDA rules. That case has followed him ever since and is now being highlighted again by opponents in the 2026 attorney-general race as a question of judgment and credibility.
He has also faced ethics and transparency accusations related to how he conducts legislative business. In 2021, the South Carolina Democratic Party and local Democrats publicly asked the state Ethics Commission, attorney general, and the state Supreme Court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel to investigate him for holding a Georgetown County legislative delegation meeting at his private law office without proper public notice, arguing that this both violated open-meetings requirements and improperly used his elected position to benefit his law practice.
More recently, he has drawn controversy over some of his policy pushes and public roles. Environmental reporting has criticized him for championing changes to beachfront and coastal laws that, in their view, primarily benefit affluent oceanfront property owners, and his leading role in presenting the case to remove state treasurer Curtis Loftis over accounting issues stirred intra-Republican tension. At the same time, he has also sponsored high-profile domestic-violence and “coercive control” legislation, which his supporters point to as evidence he is using his experience and position to address serious abuse problems.