The Cowlitz Tribe of Washington, owner of the Ilani Casino Resort in La Center, is cooperating with a federal Justice Department (DOJ) antitrust probe of a previous tribal council’s longtime hire of a law firm that specialized in gaming promotion and that secretly fought to protect the gaming market from competition. The casino serves the lucrative Portland market.
The tribe’s relationship with Matthew Rossman and Bruce Studer — and their company, R&S Strategy Group—was first broken by an investigative piece published several weeks ago by the Oregonian. The tribe paid the firm up to $50,000 a month to defend against other casinos opening in Oregon.
The 5,000-member tribe has provided the DOJ with thousands of pages of documents related to its relationship with the law firm, according to a tribal member who has chosen to remain anonymous. Otherwise, the tribe is not commenting on the investigation. The DOJ’s policy is not to comment on open investigations or even to admit they are ongoing.
Among documents given to the DOJ are emails from and to the late David Barnett, a powerful and controversial former Cowlitz chairman. Barnett, who had a reputation for being aggressive, led the opening of the Ilani Casino Resort after land in La Center was put into trust in 2012.
He insisted on hiring the firm soon after and in maintaining the relationship for several years. Barnett died last year, and soon after the tribe severed its ties with R&S Strategy Group. While it was employed by the tribe the group did its best to protect the casino from competition, including fighting competing gaming tribes across Oregon.
Reportedly the tribal council is hoping that its good-faith cooperation with the DOJ will help its case.
