Mashpee Wampanoag tribe files civil lawsuit against disgraced former leader
The former leader of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in Massachusetts was convicted last year of racketeering and bribery and is seeking to recover his alleged financial losses and legal fees.
The tribe has been trying to build a casino resort in Taunton since receiving federal recognition in 2007. After the Mashpees successfully transferred 321 acres to federal funds in September 2015, the tribe partnered with global gaming operator Genting to build a $1 billion integrated resort called First Light Resort and Casino.
In 2020, federal prosecutors filed charges against then-Chairman Cedric Cromwell of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Cromwell was found guilty in May 2022 on two counts of accepting bribes as an agent of an Indian tribal government, three counts of extortion under the guise of official privileges and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion.
In November 2022, Cromwell was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $240,000 in fines and restitution. He remains a free man as his appeals process is ongoing.
The tribe recently filed seven civil lawsuits against Cromwell in Barnstable County Superior Court in Massachusetts. These include breach of fiduciary duty, honest services fraud, fraudulent concealment and civil conspiracy.
The tribe is seeking monetary damages to be determined by court or through a settlement, as well as interest and attorneys' fees.
BRIERY SCANDAL
Cromwell was elected chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in 2009 and was re-elected in 2013 and 2017. The tribe said that as chairman, Cromwell has the authority to "preside at all meetings of the Tribal Council" and "perform the day-to-day duties of the chairman." “This includes serving as the tribe’s official spokesperson, engaging in public relations, serving as coordinator of all tribal government activities, and exercising any authority delegated to him by the tribal council.”
Federal prosecutors successfully argued that Cromwell used the Dawn Casino project to benefit himself. Cromwell was convicted of accepting a $10,000 bribe from an architect in exchange for a $5 million design contract.
The architect, David DeQuattro, of Rhode Island, was found guilty of bribery and sentenced to a $50,000 fine and a year of house arrest with electronic monitoring. In addition to the $10,000 bribe, DeQuattro gifted Cromwell a Bowflex Revolution home gym and awarded the tribal chairman "a weekend stay at an upscale Boston hotel in May 2017."
Federal investigators uncovered a 2017 email from Cromwell, who was married at the time, to DeQuattro in which he wrote:
Hi Dave. I hope everything is fine. My birthday is coming up, Friday May 19th, and I wanted to spend my birthday weekend Friday through Monday at a really nice hotel in Boston. Can you get me a nice hotel room at the Four Seasons or a suite at the Harbor Hotel? I will have a special guest traveling with me. Please let me know and thank you. "
The Mashpee family claims in its "civil action" against Cromwell that his misconduct caused business disruption and harmed their ability to obtain ongoing financing because of the harm he caused to the tribe's reputation.
Legal Background Story
In 2015, Mashpees and Genting proposed the First Light initiative. But the project was quickly delayed by a public opposition campaign by Taunton community members funded by casino magnate Neil Bluhm.
Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming remains the sole bidder for the remaining commercial casino licenses that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) may award to Region C. The region includes Bristol, Plymouth, Nantucket, Dukes and Barnstable counties in the southeastern part of the state. The MGC has delayed issuing a license as the Mashpee family continues to build a tribal casino in Taunton, Bristol County.
The federal government has a responsibility to complicate the Mashpees' legal claims to the Taunton casino.
The Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs under the Obama administration agreed to place the 321 acres in a federal trust. Some of the land (approximately 151 acres) will be used by tribes to secure their economic sovereignty through the Genting-funded Dawn project.
Later, under the Trump administration, the BIA said the agency made a mistake when it designated the land as tribal land. Then, in late 2021, under the Biden administration, the agency reaffirmed the tribe's historical ties to Taunton and redesignated the lands as sovereign property.
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Source: www.casino.org
