The National Indian Gaming Commission has recommended ordering the St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin to pay $5.5 million due to tribal leaders allegedly embezzling at least $1.5 million in casino funds. Previously Commission Chairman Jonodev Chaudhuri charged the tribe with 527 violations of federal and tribal ordinances, carrying a maximum fine of $27.7 million.
Chaudhuri said the tribal leaders’ actions were “egregious,” since many of the Burnett County-based tribe’s 1,000 members live in poverty. “The tribe would have an additional $1.5 million in available funds if they had not been repeatedly doled out to the tribe’s own leaders, ‘consultants’ and others for personal gain,” Chaudhuri said. Regulators found some of the funds were used for trips to Hawaii and Las Vegas.
Several tribal officials knew about the illicit payments but did nothing to stop them, Chaudhuri said. “The seriousness of these violations and their effect on the St. Croix Indians of Wisconsin, as well as the reputation of tribal gaming across the nation, cannot be overstated,” he added
Chaudhuri noted tribal leaders have not accepted responsibility for the violations. He said, “They have pointedly failed to address the $1.5 million in funds missing from tribal coffers, much of which ended up in their own pockets. And based on reports from a fellow council member, they continue to exclude their duly elected colleagues from the discussion of the Notice of Violations.”
The tribe operates casinos in Turtle Lake, Danbury and Hertel. Revenue from the casinos pay tribal members a per capita dividend of about $400 a month.
