Jonathan Pinson, once chairman of the board of S.C. State University and a high-flying businessman known for multi-million-dollar development projects, was given a new label Thursday by a federal jury: racketeer.

The jury found the Greenville businessman guilty on 29 of 45 felony counts and acquitted him on 16. He did not testify during the trial, which began June 16. The government had spent three years in investigating and bringing the case – one of its most complex in recent years – to trial in Columbia. Its investigators included a low-profile joint FBI-SLED public corruption team task force that targets officials in South Carolina.

The biggest guilty verdict came on count No. 1, which charged Pinson, 44, with racketeering, or being part of an ongoing criminal enterprise engaged in crimes like money laundering, theft of federal funds, wire fraud, bribery and extortion...