Loans to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe halted

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Loans to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe halted

By Tanner Stening
Posted Mar 3, 2019

Genting Malaysia had provided financial support to Mashpee Wampanoag to help run its government

MASHPEE — Genting Malaysia, the company behind the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s proposed $1 billion casino project in Taunton, is no longer loaning the tribe money to pay for its government operations, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the tribe’s finances.

The Malaysian-based casino developer has fulfilled its contractual obligations to the tribe and is no longer providing financial support. The company is still backing efforts to thwart a legal effort threatening the tribe’s 321 acres of reservation land in Mashpee and Taunton, which is necessary for the project.

“They have no financial responsibilities to us,” newly elected tribal council member Aaron Tobey Jr. said about Genting.

“They’ve fulfilled their obligations ... and now they’re helping out with the land-in-trust (issue),” Tobey said, referring to the ongoing litigation challenging a decision by the U.S. Department of the Interior that found the tribe is ineligible to have land taken into trust.

In 2015, under President Barack Obama, Interior took the land in trust, creating the reservation.

In December, Genting announced that it had suffered an “impairment loss” of roughly $440 million on its investment in promissory notes issued by the tribe. The Malaysian casino giant has been backing the tribe’s efforts to pursue gaming since at least 2009. It previously helped bankroll the Mashantucket Pequot tribe’s construction of Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut.

Documents detailing Genting’s contractual obligations to the tribe are not publicly available, but the casino developer has been loaning the tribe cash to support its government operations for several years. The remaining loan dollars are going to finance the government fund through March 31, at which point future funding for operations becomes uncertain, according to another source with knowledge of the agreement. In 2017, Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said the tribe’s annual operating budget was about $12 million.

In May, Tribal Council approved a budget that saw far fewer loan dollars from Genting than in previous years. The tribe received $5.4 million in loans from Genting in fiscal year 2018, which is less than half of what it received for fiscal year 2017. That year, the tribe received $11,944,567, an increase of approximately $250,000 over fiscal year 2016, according to budget documents 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, leaving it with roughly $83,670 in its general fund, according to the documents.

The programs and services funded by the Genting have been cut, though it isn’t clear which departments were affected, Tobey said. Cromwell alluded to the cuts in a statement issued on Jan. 7.

The difficult financial situation has precipitated a number of changes to paid positions within the tribal government, including on the Tribal Council. Only three high-ranking officials — Treasurer Gordon Harris, Secretary Ann Marie Askew and Cromwell — are still receiving salaries on the tribal council, according to sources. Payouts for the 12 legislative personnel, including fringe benefits, totaled $938,206, according to the tribe’s budget for fiscal year 2018.

Cromwell’s slice of that pie amounted to $181,794 in 2018, according to the budget, which was down from $219,186 in 2017.

The Council’s vice chairwoman, Jessie “Little Doe” Baird, has since forfeited her salary also, and at one point offered her resignation, the sources said. She previously made $134,439, according to the most recent budget.

https://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20190303/loans-to-mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-halted