A former chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts, Cedric Cromwell, along with his accomplice, David DeQuattro, will have to reimburse the tribe nearly $250,000 for legal fees, a judge ordered.
The two men were both convicted of bribery last May in U.S. District Court.
As part of their sentence, the judge ordered the two split the $249,628.74 in legal fees incurred by the tribe, even though Cromwell received the harsher sentence.
“While the government acknowledges the Court’s finding that Mr. DeQuattro was far less culpable than Mr. Cromwell, apportioning restitution in with the entire investigation, which led to parallel charges of bribery against the defendants, and parallel convictions except for the $10,000 check from November 2015. Furthermore, ordering joint and severable liability would be fairer to the Tribe,” court documents stated.
The current Mashpee Wampanoag Chair Brian Weeden said the tribe has been deeply hurt by Cromwell’s actions.
“For over 400 years, the Tribe has fought to preserve its culture, lands and protect its people from constant exploitation and oppression,” Weeden wrote. “And yet, we are now facing the ultimate betrayal by one elected and entrusted to lead and act in the best interests of our Tribal Nation and future seven generations.”
Cromwell was the chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe when the bribes began in 2015—he received exercise equipment and a weekend stay at a luxury hotel from an architectural firm that was trying to build a casino on tribal land.
He was convicted on May 5 of two counts of accepting bribes as an agent of an Indian tribal government, three counts of extortion under color of official right and one count of conspiring to commit extortion. He was sentenced to three years in prison and one year of supervised release. He still faces four counts of tax evasion.
DeQuattro was a member of the firm that was courting Cromwell and was found guilty on a charge of bribery. He was sentenced to one year of probation to be spent in home confinement with electronic monitoring. He was also ordered to pay $50,000 in fines on top of the restitution order. DeQuattro is appealing his conviction.
