National Indian Gaming Commission has issued a Notice of Violation St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin listing over 500 alleged violations that add up to about $1.5 million in casino funds.
The violations between 2015-2017 include such things as trips to Hawaii and Las Vegas with minimal or no documentation, consulting fees without contracts, goods and services without receipts,
Eric Dahlstrom, an Arizona attorney who specializes in Indian legal issues told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that in 40 years of experience in such matters he had never seen violations adding up to that much. “The dollar amounts are staggering,” he said. “I certainly haven’t seen a Notice of Violation as large as this. … Tribal gaming funds are strictly regulated and should be used to provide badly needed government service and build infrastructure.”
Among those payments were 74 totaling $154,173 going to former tribal Chairman Lewis Taylor and another $235,888 to tribal council member Elmer “Jay” Emery.
According to the NIGC Notice: “Many of the payments — worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — were issued to the same small group of people, often with the only supporting document being a request for disbursement form with the words ‘travel’ or ‘consulting fees’ scrawled into the comments section.” It added, “Upon further questioning by NIGC investigators, the tribe was unable to produce documentation to support treating the payments as expenses of the gaming operation.”
Former tribal General Counsel Jeff Cormell said he warned tribal officials against approving such payments. “Based upon legal advice they’d been getting from multiple sources and not just from me, they either knew or should have known that the process in which they were acting was unlawful,” Cormell said. He said he resigned last fall due to a “hostile work environment” because of his advice.
Chairman Jonodev Chaudhuri skipped the normal procedure of issuing a letter of concern before a notice of violation, and went straight to the more serious action. “In this case, however, given the pervasiveness and serious nature of the violations, coupled with the fact that many of the individuals identified in the Notice of Violation are still in a position to direct casino and net gaming revenues, the chair has decided to proceed directly” said the notice.
This action could bring on investigations by the FBI, IRS and Wisconsin Department of Revenue. It could also bring on civil fines for the tribe.
The St. Croix reservation has about 2,000 members living in several counties. It has two casinos, the St. Croix Casino in Turtle Lake and Hole in the Wall Casino in Danbury.
Tribal officials, including gaming commission Chairman Jeff Taylor have not yet commented.
