Former Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell, is being charged with filing false tax returns to go along with earlier charges of casino bribery. The Massachusetts tribal leader led a tribe that has tried to build a $1 billion casino for the better part of a decade.
A Boston federal grand jury indicted the former tribal leader last week with four counts of filing a false tax return, said Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell.
The new charges are added to earlier charges of extortion of bribes with alleged co-conspirator David DeQuattro, who owned a architecture and design firm in Rhode Island the tribe hired to shepherd the First Light Casino in Taunton.
Cromwell is accused of failing to report bribe money paid to him in the amount of $177,393 for 2014-2017. And of failing to report payments for consulting work.
Cromwell was deposed as chairman in November after the federal investigation became public.
