Cedric Cromwell, longtime chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts was arrested Friday on two federal counts of accepting bribes. The arrest was announced by U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew E. Lelling and the FBI.
Previously Lelling’s office issued indictments charging Cromwell and David DeQuarttro, owner of Robinson Green Beretta Corp, a Rhode Island architectural firm the tribe used to design its $1 billion First Light casino resort in Taunton—which was never built—on two counts of accepting or paying bribes and one count of conspiring to commit bribery.
The U.S. Attorney told reporters, “The charges allege that Mr. Cromwell violated the trust he owed the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe by committing extortion, accepting bribes and otherwise abusing his position.” Lelling added, “Many American Indians face a host of difficult financial and social issues. They require – and deserve – real leadership. But it appears that Cromwell’s priority was not to serve his people, but to line his own pockets. We will continue to aggressively investigate public corruption, including by those who purport to serve our American Indian tribes.”
For three years, DeQuarttro paid Cromwell money and benefits totally more than $57,000, including $44,000 in personal checks written to CM International Consulting LLC, which was owned by a personal friend of Cromwell. That company then paid checks to Cromwell’ shell company One Nation Development. In return the tribe paid the architecture firm nearly $5 million.
Allegedly Cromwell spent all the bribe money on personal expenses, including payments to a mistress. He also received a free gym membership and free hotel stays.
Both men pleaded not guilty and were released on $25,000 prior to a planned December arraignment.
Cromwell became chairman of the 3,000-member tribe in 2009. The tribe is one of the earliest tribes that British colonists encountered when they settled the New World. The Mashpees are considered to be the tribe that greeted the Pilgrims shortly after they landed at Plymouth in 1620. It achieved federal recognition in 2007.
Cromwell has been much in the news in 2020, primarily because the Department of the Interior announced that it was removing the tribe’s reservation of more than 300 acres in Taunton and Martha’s Vineyard from trust. The land had previously been put in trust by the previous administration and had started building a casino before it was halted by an adverse ruling of a federal judge.
The action by the department to remove the land from trust was halted for the moment by a ruling of different federal judge.
A bill that would put the Mashpee land into trust by Act of Congress has been passed by the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate after President Trump publicly opposed the idea.
A few days before Cromwell had been part of an event assembled by the National Congress of American Indians to give input on Indian issues to the incoming Biden administration.
Members of the tribal council tried on the Monday after Cromwell was arrested to remove him as chairman, but the motion was defeated by a vote of 4-3.
A hint of what was to come occurred three months ago after the U.S. Attorney subpoenaed financial documents from the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Gaming Authority three times in the last few months. Besides being chairman of the tribe, Cromwell also heads the Authority.
The Grand Jury also sought information related to the 2013 and 2017 elections of Cromwell. The tribal Treasurer Gordon Harris was also subpoenaed about a year ago.
