"She Would Have and Should Have Been Sued Into Bankruptcy": Three South Carolina Prosecutors on Nancy Mace's Accusations Against Brian Musgrave

Source note: this dispatch is built on three letters by South Carolina circuit solicitors, published on October 14, 2026 by FITSNews and by ABC News 4 (WCIV), and reproduced below from the copies FITSNews posted. Every quotation from a letter is verbatim and is attributed to its author, date and recipient. Large parts of two of the letters are redacted in the published copies; this page says nothing about what those pages contain. The letters concern Rep. Nancy Mace's public accusations against Brian Musgrave and nothing on this page addresses any other person. Musgrave has denied the accusations since the day they were made. Mace has not retracted them. Maceopedia takes no position on anything the letters do not say.

"Had Ms. Mace not been speaking as a Member of Congress on the floor of the House of Representatives and protected from civil liability by the United States Constitution, she would have and should have been sued into bankruptcy."

That sentence was written by Kevin S. Brackett, the elected Solicitor of South Carolina's Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, in a letter dated August 21, 2026 to Scarlett Wilson, the Solicitor of the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Charleston. It is about one thing: the accusations Rep. Nancy Mace made on the floor of the House on February 10, 2025 against Brian Musgrave, a Fort Mill, South Carolina businessman she named, pictured and labeled a "predator."

Brackett's letter is the third of three. Wilson wrote first, on August 14, 2026, in an eighteen-page memorandum to Captain Haley Nelson of the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED). Duffie Stone, Solicitor of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, wrote on August 18. Brackett wrote on August 21. All three address Musgrave in their own words, and the words are below, on the pages they were written on.

Reporting credited here: FITSNews, Will Folks, who obtained the letters "from sources close to the investigation" and posted the three PDFs on October 14, 2026; and ABC News 4 (WCIV), Perrin Moore, whose same-day story on the documents "obtained by News 4" is the fullest account of what the letters say about Musgrave. The statements of Musgrave's lawyers were reported by CNN and the South Carolina Daily Gazette. Links are in Sources & related coverage.

The full documentary. Maceopedia's narrated film, 3 Prosecutors: "Zero Evidence" Against Brian Musgrave (11 minutes 42 seconds), tells the whole record in order: the February 10, 2025 floor speech, Musgrave's defamation suit, the substitution of the United States and the dismissal, his second lawsuit, and the three letters on screen. It is on Maceopedia's YouTube channel.

What the letters are

SLED's file number 11-23-0312 holds what Wilson calls the "lengthy report prompted by Nancy Mace's allegations and other allegations that were raised during the course of SLED's investigation." On July 15, 2026, SLED delivered its report to Solicitor Wilson, whose circuit covers Charleston and Berkeley Counties, for what her memorandum calls a "review." Wilson is careful about what that word means. "SLED provided me your report for 'review.' I am not conducting my own investigation," she wrote to Captain Haley Nelson on August 14, and she wrote that what SLED does with its own report is SLED's decision alone.

The report, she wrote, outlined 26 allegations, and she would take them in her own order: "My review is organized a bit differently than your report, but I will cover each of the 26 allegations you outline. Like you, I will begin with Nancy Mace's very public allegations against Brian Musgrave. Her spurious claims against him demonstrate the severe credibility complications that taint some of the evidence underlying other allegations."

Before sending it, Wilson had consulted two colleagues: "As you know, I have consulted with the seniormost Solicitors in South Carolina: Solicitor Duffie Stone of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit and Solicitor Kevin Brackett of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit. They concur with my assessments." Stone's letter went to Captain Nelson four days later. Brackett's went to Wilson, with a copy to Nelson, a week after hers.

The copies made public on October 14 carry a FITSNews watermark. Wilson's memorandum is eighteen pages; in the published copy, pages 4 through 17 are almost entirely blacked out. ABC News 4 described it as "18 pages long but nearly 15 pages are completely redacted." Stone's letter is three pages, and most of its second page and the top of its third are blacked out. Brackett's two-page letter is published without redactions. This page reproduces only the passages about Musgrave and says nothing about what the redacted pages contain.

The timeline

• February 10, 2025. From the floor of the House, Mace reads the name "Brian Musgrave of Fort Mill, South Carolina" into the record and calls him a predator, beside a poster bearing his photograph (Congressional Record, vol. 171, no. 27, pp. H607 to H612). The speech, and the incident page.
• February and March 2025. The same poster hangs in the public hallway outside Mace's Longworth office. The poster.
• March 14, 2025. Musgrave sues Mace for defamation in federal court. Musgrave v. Mace.
• August 20, 2025. U.S. District Judge Richard M. Gergel dismisses the suit on immunity grounds, after substituting the United States for Mace, and says in a footnote that it "offers no opinion concerning the truthfulness or the lack of truthfulness" of her allegations. The order, shown.
• July 15, 2026. SLED delivers its report on file 11-23-0312 to Solicitor Wilson for review.
• August 14, 2026. Wilson's Memorandum of Review to SLED Captain Haley Nelson.
• August 18, 2026. Stone's letter to Captain Nelson.
• August 21, 2026. Brackett's letter to Wilson, copied to Captain Nelson.
• October 14, 2026. FITSNews and ABC News 4 publish the three letters.

The letters, one by one

Solicitor	Circuit	Date	To	The line
Scarlett A. Wilson	Ninth	August 14, 2026	Captain Haley Nelson, SLED	"Your report offers zero evidence that Mr. Musgrave committed any crime because zero evidence was presented to you."
Duffie Stone	Fourteenth	August 18, 2026	Captain Haley Nelson, SLED	"...she offered neither evidence nor even suspicions to law enforcement to justify her comments."
Kevin S. Brackett	Sixteenth	August 21, 2026	Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, copied to Captain Haley Nelson	On Mace's accusations against Brian Musgrave: "...she would have and should have been sued into bankruptcy."

Each letter has its own page:

• Solicitor Scarlett Wilson to SLED: Mace's Credibility "Would Be Thoroughly Undermined"
• Solicitor Duffie Stone to SLED: Mace's Allegations Have "Turned Out to Not Be True"
• Solicitor Kevin Brackett: Without Her House Floor Protection, Mace "Would Have and Should Have Been Sued Into Bankruptcy", on Mace's accusations against Brian Musgrave

The Wilson memorandum, shown

The first page of Solicitor Scarlett A. Wilson's Memorandum of Review, dated August 14, 2026, to Captain Haley Nelson of SLED. The header lists the report as received on July 15, 2026 under SLED file number 11-23-0312. Click for full size. The memorandum as published by FITSNews (PDF, 18 pages, pages 4 through 17 redacted). Hosted copy on Maceopedia.

Page 2 of the memorandum, the paragraph in which Wilson says where she will begin. Click for full size.

"My review is organized a bit differently than your report, but I will cover each of the 26 allegations you outline. Like you, I will begin with Nancy Mace's very public allegations against Brian Musgrave. Her spurious claims against him demonstrate the severe credibility complications that taint some of the evidence underlying other allegations."

Scarlett A. Wilson, Solicitor, Ninth Judicial Circuit, Memorandum of Review to Captain Haley Nelson, SLED, August 14, 2026, page 2

The first section of her review is headed "Brian Musgrave (SLED Report Section 1)." It runs from the bottom of page 2 to the top of page 3.

The Musgrave section of Wilson's memorandum, pages 2 and 3, joined. The word "Nothing" is underlined in the original. Click for full size. Wilson wrote:

"Your report offers zero evidence that Mr. Musgrave committed any crime because zero evidence was presented to you. In fact, your report shows that an allegation against Mr. Musgrave has not even been made. Nancy Mace only provided you questions and suppositions as to Musgrave's involvement in crimes she claims have been committed by his friends and colleagues.

"Despite the lack of even a scintilla of evidence against Mr. Musgrave, Mace publicly labeled him a criminal and a predator. She used his name in the context of rape and sex trafficking, implying he was guilty of both. Mace branded Mr. Musgrave and his photograph a 'predator' and broadcast it to the world. Later, she plastered the aspersions in the hallway outside her public office in Washington D.C. Nothing in this investigation supports any of Mace's smears against Mr. Musgrave. The federal courts have found Ms. Mace immune from responsibility for these defamatory accusations. Because Mace made these accusations publicly, but not directly to law enforcement, there is no viable charge for giving false information to law enforcement under S.C. Code Section 16-17-725. Without question, however, should Nancy Mace be called as a witness at trial in a prosecution stemming from any of the allegations in your report, her credibility would be thoroughly undermined by her false allegations against Mr. Musgrave."

Scarlett A. Wilson, Solicitor, Ninth Judicial Circuit, Memorandum of Review to Captain Haley Nelson, SLED, August 14, 2026, pages 2 and 3

Two details in that passage. First, the statute: Wilson says there is "no viable charge" against Mace for giving false information to law enforcement, and the reason she gives is not that the information was true but that Mace made the accusations "publicly, but not directly to law enforcement." Second, the word "immune": Wilson's phrase "the federal courts have found Ms. Mace immune" is a reference to the August 2025 dismissal of Musgrave's suit, a ruling on immunity that decided nothing about the truth of the accusation.

Page 3 of the memorandum as published: the end of the Musgrave section, and then black bars. Pages 4 through 17 are almost entirely redacted. Click for full size.

The Stone letter, shown

The first page of Solicitor Duffie Stone's letter of August 18, 2026 to Captain Haley Nelson of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Click for full size. The letter as published by FITSNews (PDF, 3 pages, partly redacted). Hosted copy on Maceopedia.

Stone, whose circuit covers Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper Counties, opens by saying what he relied on and what he concluded: "Based on the evidence you reviewed with us and the facts outlined in your report, I agree with Solicitor Wilson's assessment of the facts that SLED provided and the law as it applies." He then explains how he decides whether to prosecute anyone at all:

"Our ethics require that we are prepared, fair and as concerned with exonerating the innocent as with convicting the guilty. We must first be convinced that a crime has been committed by the accused and that there is sufficient admissible evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. If either of these tests fail, we must not proceed. I have never prosecuted anyone that I was not first convinced was guilty."

Duffie Stone, Solicitor, Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, letter to Captain Haley Nelson, SLED, August 18, 2026, page 1

On page 2 he turns to Mace and to Musgrave.

Page 2 of the Stone letter. The black bar at the end of the paragraph, and the rest of the page, are redacted in the published copy. Click for full size.

"Congresswoman Nancy Mace made many allegations to law enforcement and to the public that have turned out to not be true. Nancy Mace's very public statements branding Brian Musgrave a predator, a rapist, and a human trafficker are shocking when she offered neither evidence nor even suspicions to law enforcement to justify her comments."

Duffie Stone, Solicitor, Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, letter to Captain Haley Nelson, SLED, August 18, 2026, page 2

That is the whole of what the published letter says about Musgrave. The first sentence is general and is quoted here exactly as written, with nothing added to it. (ABC News 4 rendered the phrase as "turned out not to be true"; the letter reads "to not be true.") What comes after the paragraph is blacked out, and the letter closes on page 3: "I hope that my review has been helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions."

Page 3 of the Stone letter as published. Click for full size.

The Brackett letter, shown

The first page of Solicitor Kevin S. Brackett's letter of August 21, 2026 to Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, copied to Captain Haley Nelson. Click for full size. The letter as published by FITSNews (PDF, 2 pages, no redactions). Hosted copy on Maceopedia.

Brackett, whose circuit covers York and Union Counties, wrote that he had read Wilson's letter "as well as Solicitor Stone's letter speaking to the same" and was "writing to confirm that I concur fully in both. I feel the need to elaborate further on only one aspect of this matter." The one aspect is Musgrave.

Page 1 of the Brackett letter. Brackett writes "Bryan Musgrave" once; the name is Brian. Click for full size.

"It occurs to me how stark the contrast is between the efforts we have undertaken in this case and those undertaken by Ms. Mace prior to her brutal and baseless assault on the character and reputation of Bryan [sic] Musgrave. Having completed our task diligently, we now know that there is not one speck of evidence that substantiates any of the reckless accusations she made against Mr. Musgrave and that he is completely innocent of these outrageous claims. Further, the investigation reveals nothing whatsoever that she could have seen that may have justified her making these terrible accusations in the first place."

Kevin S. Brackett, Solicitor, Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, letter to Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, August 21, 2026, page 1

Then the sentence at the top of this page, which runs from the bottom of page 1 onto page 2:

The bottom of page 1 and the top of page 2 of the Brackett letter, joined. Click for full size.

"Had Ms. Mace not been speaking as a Member of Congress on the floor of the House of Representatives and protected from civil liability by the United States Constitution, she would have and should have been sued into bankruptcy. Sadly, there will be no redress for this injury to Mr. Musgrave's reputation. I wonder whether, in light of the investigation and our findings, Ms. Mace will muster a sufficient sense of shame to compel an apology to him. Time will tell."

Kevin S. Brackett, Solicitor, Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, letter to Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, August 21, 2026, pages 1 and 2, on Nancy Mace's accusations against Brian Musgrave

Page 2 of the Brackett letter, complete: the closing paragraph, the signature, and the copy to Captain Haley Nelson of the State Law Enforcement Division. Click for full size.

He closes with the reason he wrote at all:

"In the meantime, I felt compelled to write and share my own, justified outrage at her treatment of him. Hopefully this can serve, in some small way, to repair the damage done and provide a lasting testament to the unjustness of the injury done to Mr. Musgrave, and the utter falsity of the allegations that accomplished it."

Kevin S. Brackett, Solicitor, Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, letter to Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, August 21, 2026, page 2

What the letters do not say

The letters are the written opinions of three prosecutors reviewing an investigative report. They are not court rulings, and Wilson says in her own first pages that she was not conducting an investigation of her own and was relying on what SLED presented. No court has ruled on whether Mace's accusations against Musgrave are true; the one court that heard his suit dismissed it on immunity and said it was offering "no opinion" on truthfulness. The letters do not change that ruling; Wilson wrote only that "the federal courts have found Ms. Mace immune."

Most of the Wilson memorandum and much of the Stone letter are redacted in the copies that were published. This page does not describe, guess at, or draw anything from those pages, and nothing here concerns any person other than Musgrave and Mace and the three authors.

What Musgrave's lawyers said

Musgrave's attorneys at Bland Richter, LLP, Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter, issued a statement on October 14 that CNN and the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported. "To this day Ms. Mace has never apologized to Brian and his family for what she falsely said about him," they said. "Quite frankly, she should have cleared his name long ago." Richter told ABC News 4 that his client was "fully vindicated" and that they are "still hoping for an apology from Rep. Mace." He added: "It's a travesty that his name and his family have been dragged through the mud in all of this." ABC News 4 reported that he did not wish to comment on possible future litigation.

Musgrave's own answer to the accusation has not changed since March 10, 2025, when CNN's Randi Kaye asked him on camera whether he had done any of the things Mace described: "Absolutely not. No, no." That interview.

What Mace has said

Mace named Musgrave on the House floor on February 10, 2025 and has never retracted it. Her own upload of the speech is below; the passage in which she reads his name into the record comes early in the hour.

Mace's February 10, 2025 floor speech, embedded from the video her office posted on YouTube. This page concerns only the passage in which she names Brian Musgrave. (Source: Rep. Nancy Mace's official YouTube channel.)

When the federal court dismissed his suit on August 20, 2025, she posted from both of her X accounts that the judge had "dismissed Brian Musgrave's baseless defamation suit against me" and that the decision "proves their lies and attacks won't break me"; her full post is quoted in the dispatch on that order. No public response by Mace to the three solicitors' letters had been located when this page was written. If she makes one, it will be added here.

Where it stands

On the floor of the House, Mace called Brian Musgrave a predator, put his photograph on a poster, and hung the poster outside her office. Eighteen months later, Solicitor Wilson, whose circuit received the state's investigation, wrote that the report "offers zero evidence that Mr. Musgrave committed any crime because zero evidence was presented to you," and that her accusations against him rest on "the lack of even a scintilla of evidence." The two most senior solicitors she consulted agreed in writing: "not one speck of evidence," in Brackett's words, and "neither evidence nor even suspicions," in Stone's. Musgrave has not been charged in connection with any of it. He has denied it from the first day. His suit was dismissed after Judge Gergel substituted the United States as the defendant and found that he "has no civil remedy," and Brackett has now written that, had she not been "protected from civil liability by the United States Constitution," she "would have and should have been sued into bankruptcy." Mace has not apologized and has not retracted. That is the record.

Sources & related coverage

The letters themselves, as published by FITSNews (hosted copies are byte-identical):

• Memorandum of Review, Solicitor Scarlett A. Wilson to Captain Haley Nelson, SLED, August 14, 2026 (PDF, 18 pages; pages 4 through 17 redacted) (hosted copy)
• Letter, Solicitor Duffie Stone to Captain Haley Nelson, SLED, August 18, 2026 (PDF, 3 pages; partly redacted) (hosted copy)
• Letter, Solicitor Kevin S. Brackett to Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, August 21, 2026 (PDF, 2 pages) (hosted copy)
• The February 10, 2025 Congressional Record pages, as posted by FITSNews with its highlighting (PDF)

Reporting on the letters:

• FITSNews, Will Folks, October 14, 2026, the outlet that obtained and posted the three letters (its copies of the letters are linked above)
• ABC News 4 (WCIV), Perrin Moore, October 14, 2026, with the three documents embedded (also carried by WACH)
• CNN (Eric Levenson, Meridith Edwards and Dianne Gallagher) and the South Carolina Daily Gazette (Skylar Laird), October 14, 2026, for the Bland Richter statement

On this site:

• Brian Musgrave, the People entry
• Solicitor Scarlett Wilson to SLED: Mace's Credibility "Would Be Thoroughly Undermined"
• Solicitor Duffie Stone to SLED: Mace's Allegations Have "Turned Out to Not Be True"
• Solicitor Kevin Brackett: Without Her House Floor Protection, Mace "Would Have and Should Have Been Sued Into Bankruptcy", on Mace's accusations against Brian Musgrave
• Musgrave v. Mace, the case hub, and the dismissal order, shown
• The February 10, 2025 floor speech and the incident page
• The "PREDATORS" poster outside her office, and Eric Bland's April 9, 2025 post on X showing it, the post ABC News 4 embedded in its story
• Mace's own upload of the February 10, 2025 speech (YouTube), via her office's post, and the Congressional Record text, pp. H607 to H612
• Musgrave's CNN interview, March 10, 2025
• Scarlett Wilson, Eric Bland, Ronnie Richter