Mashpee Wampanoag former Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell recently filed a motion in U.S. District Court to dismiss some of the 10 bribery and extortion charges he faces in connection with plans to build a resort and casino in Taunton, Massachusetts.
Cromwell, who served as chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag from 2009 until his arrest in November 2020, has denied the charges, claiming, “This legal action is definitely a Trump set-up.”
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling stated, “The charges allege that Mr. Cromwell violated the trust he owed to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe by committing extortion, accepting bribes and otherwise abusing his position.” He faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Specifically, Cromwell was indicted for two counts of accepting or paying bribes as an agent or to an agent of an Indian tribal government; one count of conspiring to commit bribery for concert extortion under color of official right; and one count of conspiring to commit extortion.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Gaming Authority, which Cromwell headed, contracted with an architectural firm regarding the tribe’s plans to build a $1 billion resort and casino in Taunton. Cromwell allegedly received payments of nearly $60,000 from the firm in exchange for nearly $5 million in contracts from the tribe between 2014 and 2017.
The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, based in Cape Cod, gained federal recognition in 2007. In 2016, the Obama administration took into trust 321 acres for the tribe’s reservation, which could be used for gambling purposes. However, during the Trump administration, many Obama-era land designations were challenged. However, in 2019, Trump himself opposed the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, H.R. 312, introduced by Massachusetts’ Democratic Senator William Keating, which had bipartisan co-sponsors. Trump called the bill a “special interest casino bill” and urged Republicans not to support it. Ultimately the House temporarily deleted the vote.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe traces its history back to the arrival of the Pilgrims in Cape Cod in 1620. It is the tribe considered to have participated in the first Thanksgiving in 1621.
