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Friday, January 25, 2019

Documents show Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in dire financial situation


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Documents show Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in dire financial situation

By Tanner Stening
Posted Jan 24, 2019

MASHPEE — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is running out of money.
Expenditures from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 of 2018 left the tribe with $83,670 in its general fund, according to a statement of its expenses and revenue for the year obtained by the Times.
The tribe began 2018 with $6,369,258 in the fund, and spent $6,285,589 as of the end of the year, the document shows.
Of the roughly $6.5 million the tribe allocated for general spending purposes for fiscal year 2018, $5.4 million came from loans issued by its financial backer, Genting Malaysia, which has been paying for tribal government operations; two separate lawsuits dealing with the legal status of the tribe reservation under the Indian Reorganization Act; and lobbying efforts behind a bill that would secure the land, all geared toward opening a $1 billion tribal casino in Taunton.
But the $5.4 million in loans the tribe received last year was half of what it received from Genting for fiscal year 2017. That year, the tribe received $11,944,567, an increase of approximately $250,000 from fiscal year 2016.
It is unclear if Genting is still funding tribal government operations. The international casino developer last year reported it had suffered a $440 million loss on its investment in the tribe, prompting dire warnings from the tribe’s chairman, Cedric Cromwell, that officials would have to lay off another round of government workers and cut programs. In response to increasing financial pressure from its backer, the tribe laid off 31 employees in the past year. It is also unclear what the tribe currently has in its coffers. Tribal financial records are not publicly available.
In 2017, Cromwell said the tribe’s annual operating budget was about $12 million.
On Wednesday, the tribal council took a vote of no-confidence in Cromwell and separately voted to strip him of his financial responsibilities in connection with the tribe and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority, a five-member board charged with overseeing the tribe’s long-stalled gaming operation.
In a statement issued Wednesday before sources confirmed the council’s vote, Cromwell said he would not disclose “tribal financial details to non-tribal citizens with so many of our enemies out there looking to seize on whatever information they can in an attempt to sow confusion and destruction.”
One of those enemies, according to Cromwell, is Chicago-based casino magnate and billionaire Neil Bluhm, who had backed a lawsuit by neighbors opposing the tribe’s proposed casino in Taunton.
Bluhm is backing a proposed casino in Brockton through Mass Gaming & Entertainment. Although the competing casino was originally denied by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission in 2016, the commission is now considering whether to reopen the bidding for commercial casinos in Southeastern Massachusetts, known as Region C.
Although the gaming commission had planned to discuss and move forward with a decision on opening up the region this month, it announced Thursday that it would hold off on doing so in light of the recent appointment by Gov. Charlie Baker of a new chairwoman to the board, Cathy Judd-Stein, current deputy legal counsel and a veteran government lawyer.
“Any decision we make should include our new chairwoman and giving her a little time to understand all the issues and read all the comments is certainly appropriate,” interim Chairwoman Gayle Cameron said.
If the tribe is able to move forward with its casino and there is a competing casino in the same region, it would not pay anything to the state. If it has exclusive rights to a casino in Southeastern Massachusetts, it would pay the state 17 percent of its gambling revenue.
On Tuesday, lobbying disclosures showed that the tribe, through a team of lobbyists, had spent $280,000 in the fourth quarter of 2018 on lobbying for legislation, reintroduced this congressional session by U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., that would end an ongoing legal challenge to the Obama administration’s decision to take 321 acres of land in Mashpee and Taunton into trust on the tribe’s behalf. A federal judge in 2016 found in favor of neighbors of the proposed Taunton casino who argued that decision had been faulty, prompting the U.S. Department of the Interior to reverse it, leaving the tribe in limbo.
The tribe has said its casino would create 4,000 jobs and $102 million in wages for workers in Taunton as well $24 million in wages for jobs in other parts of the state. An additional 2,990 jobs would be created during construction, according to the tribe.
“It’s no secret that we have been put in extremely difficult financial circumstances as a result of the uncertainty surrounding our reservation status,” Cromwell said. “Everyday that uncertainty lingers it further drains limited resources as we try to balance between providing vital services to Tribal Citizens while at the same time continuing a costly fight to retain our land.”
Genting spent more than $1 million on various lobbying firms in 2018, three times more than it did in 2017, according to federal lobbying disclosures. The overseas developer was the third biggest spender on tourism/lodging lobbying in the U.S. this past year, according to the website Open Secrets.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190124/documents-show-mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-in-dire-financial-situation



Sources: Mashpee tribe’s chairman stripped of financial control




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Sources: Mashpee tribe’s chairman stripped of financial control

By Tanner Stening
Posted Jan 25, 2019


MASHPEE — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council chairman is no longer in charge of the tribe’s finances.
On Wednesday, the council voted 7-0 to strip Cedric Cromwell of his fiduciary duties as chairman and in his role as president of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority, a five-member board charged with overseeing the tribe’s long-stalled gaming operation, according to sources who were present at the time.
Vice Chairwoman Jessie “Little Doe” Baird, Secretary Ann Marie Askew and council members Yvonne Frye Avant, Cheryl Frye-Cromwell, Winnie Johnson Graham, Carlton Hendricks and Winona Pocknett voted in favor of the motion, according to those sources. Tribal treasurer Gordon Harris and council member David Weeden abstained. Council member Rob Dias was absent.
The council also took a vote of no confidence in Cromwell, 9-0, with one abstention, a procedure traditionally used by members of a legislative body to remove a head of government from office, though it varies from government to government and does not necessarily result in any action.
David Pocknett, who was present at the meeting and previously served on the council as vice chairman, said the financial powers may now fall to Baird, who is second-in-command.
Cromwell’s former right-hand man Aaron Tobey Jr., who is running for a tribal council seat in the upcoming election, said he recommended the council take up a motion of no confidence last week after learning from a Cape Cod Times article that the chairman and his wife, council member Cheryl Frye-Cromwell, owe the IRS roughly $37,000 in unpaid taxes.
Tobey, who is now critical of Cromwell, was not present at Wednesday’s meeting.
Pocknett said Wednesday’s meeting was contentious at times.
The no-confidence vote is an indication the council finds Cromwell is not fit to hold his position, said Tobey.
“It makes sense to me that they should put him on a leash,” he said.
A tribe spokeswoman and several tribal council members did not respond to requests for more information about the vote on Thursday.
In response to a previous question about the tribe’s finances, Cromwell issued a statement Wednesday saying he would not disclose “tribal financial details to nontribal citizens with so many of our enemies out there looking to seize on whatever information they can in an attempt to sow confusion and destruction.”
“The Tribal Council and our governmental administrators regularly present detailed information and answer to tribal citizens,” he said. “We also have numerous internal accounting controls as our financial record keeping is subject to regular outside audits to ensure we maintain best practices in terms of accounting.”
The unpaid taxes owed by Cromwell and his wife date back to 2010. A sum of $34,481.44 was assessed June 4 on their Attleboro home, located at 8 Seanna Road, an addition to $2,419.63 that had been assessed on Dec. 9, 2013, according to a federal tax lien notice filed last year with the Registry of Deeds in Taunton.
Cromwell also failed to produce financial documents in response to three keeper of record subpoenas of his private companies: New Light Concepts LLC, and Lite Works LLC and One Nation LLC, according to court documents.
He was also found in contempt during the couple’s ongoing divorce for failing to pay their mortgage, household bills and legal fees, and his wife’s attorneys argued that he has “well-documented history of ... transferring, squandering and secreting funds,” the documents say.
The revelations come as the tribe is contending with a $440 million debt to its financial backer, Genting Malaysia, which recently wrote off its investment in the tribe as a loss. That debt burden, which leaders say is contingent on the success of the tribe’s proposed $1 billion Taunton casino, has snowballed under Cromwell’s watch. It includes money for the casino plans, funds to pay lobbyists and money to run the tribe’s other operations.
In addition, the tribe has had to the borrow money to fight a lawsuit that threatens its reservation land in Mashpee and Taunton, after the U.S. Department of the Interior reversed a 2015 Obama-era ruling that took the 321 acres of land into trust.
Tobey said he believes Cromwell has abused his discretion as chairman, and that the tribal council should have a more active role in executive decision-making.
Since his rise to power in 2009, Cromwell has repeatedly come under fire for his handling of the tribe’s finances, and factions critical of his administration have called for more transparency, rebuking attempts to raise the salaries of council members, including his own.
Those groups have, throughout the course of Cromwell’s tenure, attempted to rally tribe members to force open the administration’s books, including its casino records, and to protest the periodic silencing and shunning of members who have raised questions about its finances.
In the early days of the pursuit of the Taunton casino, Cromwell saw his salary increase 42 percent from $125,453 to $178,200. His pay hike was tied to a vote on Aug. 31, 2015, that brought pay for tribal council members in line with officers in other tribes and municipal governments. Future raises were tied to casino milestones.
Based on that 2015 vote, Cromwell’s pay could have increased five times to a high of $330,200 if the casino opened and generated $12 million in revenue, according to a document provided by tribe members in the past.
https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190125/sources-mashpee-tribes-chairman-stripped-of-financial-control

Monday, January 14, 2019

Mashpee tribe’s leader, wife, owe $37,000 in unpaid taxes


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Mashpee tribe’s leader,  

wife, owe $37,000 in   

unpaid taxes


By Tenner Stening
Posted Jan 13, 2019

MASHPEE — The leader of the Cape Cod tribe battling the federal government to secure his people’s reservation and save a beleaguered casino project owes, along with his wife, tens of thousands of dollars to the IRS.
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell and Cheryl Cromwell, a tribal council member, owe $36,901 in unpaid federal taxes, according to a federal tax lien notice filed last year with the Registry of Deeds in Taunton.
In addition, Cedric Cromwell has been found in contempt during the couple’s ongoing divorce for failing to pay their mortgage, household bills and legal fees, according to court documents. As part of that proceeding, Cheryl Cromwell’s attorneys have accused her husband of financial mismanagement and hiding money.
The tribe has had to cut jobs and is struggling to maintain services as it deals with its own burgeoning debt to the backer of a proposed $1 billion casino-resort slated for Taunton, the future of which is in doubt after a successful legal challenge and wide-ranging opposition to legislation that would secure the land needed to move forward with the project.
The unpaid taxes owed by the couple date back to 2010. A sum of $34,481.44 was assessed June 4 on their Attleboro home, located at 8 Seanna Road, an addition to $2,419.63 that had been assessed on Dec. 9, 2013, according to the July 31 filing.
Cedric Cromwell’s address on the documents is listed as 95 University Avenue in Westwood.
Officials have made a demand for payment of the liability, but it remains unpaid, the filing says.
In a statement, Cedric Cromwell said a payment plan has been worked out with the IRS, but did not offer details. As of Sunday, an IRS official had not provided more information on the status of the debt or the plan Cromwell referenced.
Cheryl Cromwell did not respond to a message requesting comment for this story. The couple’s contentious divorce included an intervention by a tribal attorney seeking to keep details of the tribe’s finances out of public view, and allegations by Cheryl Cromwell’s attorney that her husband has a “well-documented history of ... transferring, squandering and secreting funds.”

Their debt to the U.S. government isn’t the only liability with which the Cromwells are contending. The tribe had racked up $440 million in debt to Genting Malaysia — the financial backer of its planned casino — which recently wrote off its investment in the tribe as a loss, according to the international casino developer’s third quarter report.
After the news, Cromwell warned that his government would have to close programs and lay off another round of employees, warnings he has doubled down on as the tribe pursues legislation that would secure its land-in-trust and potentially save the casino project. In response to, among other things, increasing financial pressure from Genting, the tribe had to lay off 31 employees over the past year.
The tribe has had to borrow millions of dollars to fight a lawsuit brought by neighbors of the proposed First Light Casino & Resort. The U.S. Department of the Interior in September reversed a 2015 agency decision under the Obama administration that had taken 321 acres of land in Taunton and Mashpee into trust, effectively creating a reservation. Millions have also been spent lobbying Congress and the Interior Department, and fighting two separate legal battles — one contesting the agency’s September ruling, and another defending the tribe’s trust eligibility.
As the tribe’s financial situation has deteriorated and prompted questions about the fate of the tribe’s reservation status and operations, Cromwell’s handling of his personal finances has also been questioned throughout the divorce proceeding in Taunton.
Cheryl Cromwell’s divorce attorney, Marc Grimaldi, wrote in a letter that her husband has a “documented history and pattern of making unilateral financial decisions, not involving Cheryl in family finances and ... mismanaging finances by overspending or squandering funds,” according to court documents.
Grimaldi did not respond to numerous phone calls requesting comment.
Filings also show that Cedric Cromwell has disobeyed court orders mandating payments to bring their mortgage current, pay households bills and pay his wife’s attorney for outstanding legal fees. Cromwell also failed and refused to provide additional financial documents as per the orders of discovery in the case, according to court filings.
As a result of failing to pay outstanding bills and bring the mortgage current, as required by court order, Cromwell was found guilty of contempt, according to the documents. He was ordered, again, to provide discovery documents, and make all payments due, including bringing current all outstanding household bills by Oct. 30.
“The details of the divorce are a private matter and subject to a non-disclosure agreement,” he said.
The court files also shed a limited light on Cromwell’s personal business dealings, citing several of his Delaware-based companies that his wife’s attorneys have attempted to subpoena to disclose financial information.
On July 12, Grimaldi moved to compel Cedric Cromwell to produce financial documents in response to three keeper of record subpoenas of his companies: New Light Concepts LLC, and Lite Works LLC and One Nation LLC. Cromwell had failed to do so previously, according to court records.
New Light Concepts LLC was formed on Jan. 1, 2017, according to Delaware’s corporation records, and Lite Works LLC was incorporated on Oct. 9 that same year.
A fourth company, Platform 8, is also cited in court documents. According to an Oct. 19 court filing, Cromwell received $50,000 from Platform 8 for “consulting services.”
It is unclear, based on the court documents, what purposes the companies serve.


Cromwell said they are “perfectly legal” and do not violate any conflict of interest laws with respect to his role as chairman, but declined to provide additional information.
“They are unrelated to the Tribe and Genting,” he said.
A subpoena was also issued against the tribe and its keeper of record. Tribal attorney Mark Tilden appeared in court and moved to quash it, citing tribal sovereign immunity, documents say.
Cromwell is “gainfully employed as chairman” and has ownership interests in other businesses, according to the probate documents. His salary as chairman was $181,794, according to a copy of the tribe’s budget for fiscal year 2018. That amount is down from $219,186 in fiscal year 2017, according to the budget document obtained by the Times.
The tribe’s financial and other government records, unlike that of local, state and the U.S. government, are not publicly available because of its sovereign nation status. Even members of the tribe, as in the case of the Cromwells’ divorce, have struggled to secure information about the tribe’s finances.
Cromwell’s wife stated in the probate documents that she had “inadequate income and resources to pay for the costs of the litigation.” Cheryl Cromwell made $84,255 as a tribal council member in 2018, which was down from $92,496 in 2017, according to the budget.
Cedric Cromwell, through a spokesman, did not respond to questions about the current status of salaries for tribal council members.
Since his rise to power in 2009, Cromwell has repeatedly come under fire for his handling of the tribe’s finances, and factions critical of his administration have called for more transparency, rebuking attempts to raise the salaries of council members, including his own.
Those groups have, throughout the course of Cromwell’s tenure, attempted to rally tribe members to force open the administration’s books, including its casino records, and to protest the periodic silencing and shunning of members who’ve raised questions about its finances.
In the early days of the pursuit of the Taunton casino, Cromwell saw his salary increase 42 percent from $125,453 to $178,200. His pay hike was tied to a vote on Aug. 31, 2015, that brought pay for tribal council members in line with officers in other tribes and municipal governments. Future raises were tied to casino milestones.
Based on that 2015 vote, Cromwell’s pay could have increased five times to a high of $330,200 if the casino opened and generated $12 million in revenue, according to a document provided by tribe members in the past.
According to a Dec. 19 filing, the Cromwells will engage in mediation with a retired judge, and are scheduled to meet in court again on March 6.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190113/mashpee-tribes-leader-wife-owe-37000-in-unpaid-taxes


Thursday, January 3, 2019

Judge denies government request for stay in Cape tribe’s lawsuit



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TRUTH TO POWER

Judge denies government request for stay in Cape tribe’s lawsuit

By Tanner Stening
Posted Jan 2, 2019

A federal judge denied the U.S. Department of the Interior’s motion to suspend proceedings in a lawsuit brought in September by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which is challenging the federal agency’s Sept. 7 decision on its trust land eligibility.
In light of the partial government shutdown, Interior Department attorneys requested a stay for officials to “answer or respond” to the tribe’s complaint until Congress passes a funding measure, saying that employees of the federal agency, as well as the Department of Justice, are prohibited from working except in “very limited circumstances,” according to the latest court filings.
Those circumstances include “emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property,” attorneys wrote. The request to stay, filed Dec. 28, asked that the case be put on hold until appropriations were restored to the two departments.
Judge Rosemary M. Collyer denied the stay but granted another extension for the government to respond. The agency now has until Jan. 30 to respond to the lawsuit, according to a Jan. 2 order by Collyer.
Tribal attorneys filed the complaint Sept. 27 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the Interior Department’s ruling earlier that month reversing an Obama-era decision to secure 321 acres of tribal land in Mashpee and Taunton into trust for the tribe.
That determination by President Donald Trump’s administration found the tribe was not under federal jurisdiction in 1934 — the year the Indian Reorganization Act was passed. The tribe has plans to build a $1 billion casino on the land in Taunton. Neighbors of the proposed casino had sued to overturn the 2015 decision and a judge found in their favor, sending it back to the Interior Department.
The tribe’s lawsuit against Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his department alleges the agency “failed to apply established law” by “contorting relevant facts and ignoring others to engineer a negative decision” with respect to the tribe’s land.
Zinke left his post Wednesday after announcing his resignation in December amid multiple investigations into alleged ethics violations. He is being replaced by Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who will serve as acting secretary.
The Department of Justice has asked for similar action in other cases with mixed results, including several high profile lawsuits against the Trump administration.
In some of the cases, judges have issued stays pending a resolution of the government shutdown while in others judges have ordered that litigation proceed without disruption.
https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190102/judge-denies-government-request-for-stay-in-cape-tribes-lawsuit