Tribal leader denies report that arrears would be made up through bingo hall.
TAUNTON — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is late with its annual payment of more than $500,000 to the city of Taunton in accordance with the two entities’ intergovernmental agreement, and there is some confusion as to how that payment will be made.
Taunton city councilors were surprised Tuesday night to learn in a letter from the city’s legal department that the tribe planned to pay through revenue it would receive from establishment of a “tribal bingo hall.”
A leader of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe said he also was surprised.
“There are no plans for a bingo hall or any other financing strategies at this point because the tribe is too busy fighting to protect our ancestral lands against attacks from the Department of Interior during the global COVID-19 pandemic,” Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with the City of Taunton and the town of Mashpee and finding ways to support each other.”
The tribe, which owns 150 acres of reservation land close to the intersections of routes 24 and 140 in Taunton, made an agreement with the city in 2012 based on expected revenue from its proposed $1 billion First Light Resort and Casino. The tribe was to pay the city at least $8 million every year once the casino was operating or 2.05% of its net slot revenue.
The casino and resort were projected to bring more than $50 million in revenue to the state and create more than 1,000 permanent jobs as well as 1,000 construction jobs.
As the tribe has been stuck in a legal tug-of-war with neighbors of the proposed casino who oppose the project and with the Interior Department over its land-in-trust status, that casino has yet to come to fruition.
The tribe has been paying Taunton a rate of $27.62 per $1,000 of assessed valuation every year instead of property taxes because of the land’s tax-exempt status, usually totaling a little more than $500,000.
In the past few years the tribe has been sending those payments through a wire transfer from a New York bank. Taunton Treasurer-Collector Barbara Auger previously commended the tribe on its continued commitment to make the payments.
Matthew J. Costa, first assistant city solicitor, wrote in a May 8 letter to the Taunton City Council that payment was due from the tribe in November. The Law Department issued a formal notice March 31 disputing the nonpayment, and the tribe asked for an extension.
That extension was agreed to based on the expectation the tribe would raise revenue through establishment of a tribal bingo hall, according to the letter.
“However, the establishment of a tribal bingo hall has not been realized due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Costa wrote in the letter.
If the tribe does not pay, the city would take action in Superior Court.
Cromwell said he had no idea how the city got the impression the tribe would establish a bingo hall. He also said the tribe would make its payment as part of the agreement, although he would not specify when or how that payment would be made.
“We’re going to pay it,” Cromwell said. “We’re working through it.”
Costa and City Solicitor David Gay could not be reached for additional comment on where they heard about plans for a bingo hall.
“This is the first I heard the possibility of a bingo parlor being on that site,” Taunton City Councilor David Pottier said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Secondly, I find it somewhat incredulous that they’re blaming COVID for not being able to make a payment ... that was due in November when COVID only really took the scene in the last month or so,” Pottier said. “I find their excuse totally inadequate.”
Mashpee tribal council candidates cite need for change
By Tanner Stening
Posted Feb 8, 2019
MASHPEE — Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe members will go to the polls Sunday to decide on six tribal council seats that are up for grabs at a critical time.
The election comes as the tribal council struggles to secure the tribe’s reservation land, save an embattled casino project and quell internal doubts about its current leadership.
Nine candidates are vying for the seats, including three incumbents: Carlton Hendricks Jr., Edwina Johnson-Graham and Yvonne Avant. The other candidates are Denise Johnson-Hathaway, Aaron Tobey Jr., Brian Weeden, Joanne Frye, Rita Pocknett Gonsalves and Marie Stone. The race includes faces familiar to the council and newcomers like Weeden, 26, who said he wants to bring significant reforms to give tribe members a greater say in their government.
“I don’t believe that a handful of people should be making decisions on behalf of 3,000 people,” Weeden said, adding that he’d like to see the tribe adopt referendum-style voting on important laws and ordinances.
Weeden said he would push for a long-dormant ethics ordinance that would require, among other things, tribal council members to disclose their personal business interests.
“This is something we’ve (the membership) been asking for repeatedly,” he said.
Weeden also wants to see more financial oversight through the creation of a finance committee that would act as a check against government fraud and waste.
Frye, Gonsalves, Avant and Johnson-Hathaway could not be reached for comment, and Stone declined to speak to a reporter when reached.
Several of the candidates who responded to interview requests alluded to the ongoing turmoil in the upper echelon of the tribal government.
Last month, tribal council Chairman Cedric Cromwell was temporarily stripped of his fiduciary powers after news surfaced of problems with his personal finances, including $37,000 he and his wife, tribal council member Cheryl Frye-Cromwell, owe the IRS, and business interests that were subpoenaed in the course of their divorce proceeding. On Wednesday, the tribal council reversed itself, voting to restore Cromwell’s fiduciary responsibilities and to rescind a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
“Cedric has got to go,” Tobey said. “We need new leadership — a clean sweep.”
There is tribal money that is unaccounted for, according to Tobey. If elected, he would initiate an investigation into Cromwell and the leadership, he said.
“He’s been very lucky to avoid any accountability, but now it’s about time he’s held accountable,” Tobey said.
Tobey said he would also push for an amendment to the 2008 Intergovernmental Agreement between the town and the tribe to give tribe members living in Mashpee a property tax exemption. The tribe owns the original deed to Mashpee, encompassing 25 square miles, as well as parts of Falmouth and Cotuit, he said.
“The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has been an absentee landlord for quite a while,” he said. “We have a deed to Mashpee. It is an enforceable deed, and there should be some kind of compensation for that.”
In an interview, Hendricks also zeroed in on Cromwell’s administration, saying debt incurred by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority has risen to roughly $507 million, more than $60 million more than the last figure reported by the backer of the tribe’s casino plans, Genting Malaysia.
The gaming authority is a five-member board, headed by Cromwell, that a recently released 2016 audit described as a “discretely presented component” of the tribe responsible for overseeing its stalled gaming operation. Members have long called for more transparency into the entity’s finances.
The tribe’s planned $1 billion casino resort in Taunton has languished since neighbors there successfully sued to overturn a decision by the Obama administration to take land into trust for the tribe. A federal judge remanded that decision to the Interior Department, which declined to take additional action on it. A bill pending in Congress would secure the tribe’s reservation land and bar additional legal challenges but it faces significant opposition.
No gaming authority money has been “set aside” specifically for tribe members, Hendricks said.
“We haven’t had one profitable tribal business in over 10 years,” he said. “And Cedric’s made a lot of money for his personal businesses.”
In his ongoing divorce, Cromwell failed to produce financial documents associated with several of his private companies, according to court documents.
The tribe’s finances, meanwhile, have also continued to suffer. 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 had to lay off 31 people last year and Cromwell said more cuts were expected this year, although its unclear how much is currently in its coffers.
“The question is, was he serving the tribe or himself,” Hendricks said. “I’m trying to bring integrity and transparency back to this tribe. Hopefully we as a people will elect councilors that will serve the people and not themselves, and will hold this administration accountable.”
Cromwell previously dismissed concerns over his businesses, saying they are unrelated to Genting and the tribe. After the tribal council voted to reinstate Cromwell’s financial powers, he said it was “difficult” to see his credibility called into question.
Johnson-Graham, who’s been on the tribal council since 2009, said she’s focused on the legislation to secure the tribe’s land, noting that the looming threat of losing tribal trust lands is the most urgent issue.
“We just went 10 steps backwards with this new administration,” she said about the Trump presidency. “I don’t want to leave my kid with a landless tribe.”
Johnson-Graham also wants to focus on helping tribal members suffering from addiction, and on economic development initiatives.
Sunday’s election will take place at the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Community & Government Center, at 483 Great Neck Road South. All enrolled tribe members are allowed to register on or before election day. Election results will be posted Monday at the government center.
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.
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.
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.
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