Posted on: December 11, 2023, 07:45h.
Last updated on: December 11, 2023, 07:45h.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts intends to recover alleged financial losses and legal costs from its former leader after he was found guilty last year of accepting bribes and extortion.
The tribe has been striving to construct a casino resort in Taunton after obtaining federal recognition in 2007. Following the Mashpees’ success in placing 321 acres of land into federal trust in September 2015, the Mashpees partnered with Genting, a global gaming operator, to develop a $1 billion integrated resort called First Light Resort and Casino.
Federal prosecutors in 2020 brought charges against Cedric Cromwell, who at the time was the chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Cromwell was found guilty in May 2022 on two counts of accepting bribes as an agent of an Indian tribal government, three counts of extortion under color of official right, and a single count of conspiring to commit extortion.
Cromwell, in November 2022, was sentenced to three years in prison and nearly $240,000 in fines and restitution. He remains a free man as his appeal is ongoing.
The tribe recently filed a civil lawsuit against Cromwell in Massachusetts’ Barnstable County Superior Court on seven charges, including breach of fiduciary duty, honest services fraud, fraudulent concealment, and civic conspiracy.
The tribe is seeking financial damages as determined by the court or through a settlement, plus interest and legal costs.
Bribery Scandal
Cromwell was elected tribal chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoags in 2009 and was reelected in 2013 and 2017. As chair, the tribe says Cromwell had the authority to “preside over all meetings of the Tribal Council” and “perform the usual duties of a chairperson, including acting as the official spokesperson for the Tribe, engaging in public relations, serving as coordinator over all Tribal government activities, and exercising any authority delegated to him by the Tribal Council.”
Federal prosecutors successfully argued that Cromwell used the First Light casino project to his advantage. Cromwell was convicted of accepting a $10,000 cash bribe from an architect in exchange for a $5 million design contract.
That architect, David DeQuattro of Rhode Island, was found guilty of bribery and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and undergo home confinement for a year with electronic monitoring. Along with the $10,000 bribe, DeQuattro also gave Cromwell a Bowflex Revolution home gym and provided the tribal chair with a “weekend stay at an upscale Boston hotel in May 2017.”
Federal investigators uncovered a 2017 email from Cromwell, who was married at the time, to DeQuattro that read:
Hello, Dave. I hope all is well. My Birthday is coming up this Friday May 19th and I wanted to spend Friday through Monday at a very nice hotel in Boston for my Birthday weekend. Is it possible that you can get me a nice hotel room at the Four Seasons or a suite at the Seaport Hotel? I am going to have a special guest with me. Please let me know, and Thank You.
The Mashpees contend in their civil complaint against Cromwell that his wrongdoings caused them business interruptions and difficulty in securing ongoing financing due to the reputational harm he caused to the tribe.
Legal Backstory
The Mashpees and Genting in 2015 proposed First Light, but the project met public opposition, financed by casino magnate Neil Bluhm, from members of the Taunton community. This opposition campaign delayed the project.
Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming is the sole bidder for the remaining commercial casino license the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) can issue for Region C. The MGC has delayed issuing the license due to the Mashpee’s continued attempts to build a tribal casino in Taunton, located in Bristol County.
The federal government has complicated the Mashpee’s legal right to a casino in Taunton.
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, during the Obama administration, agreed to take the 321 acres of land into federal trust. Part of that land—about 151 acres—was to be used by the tribe to ensure its economic sovereignty through First Light, a project financed by Genting.
However, the BIA under the Trump administration said the agency erred in designating the land as tribal land. Then, in late 2021 during the Biden administration, the agency reaffirmed the tribe’s historical ties to Taunton and redesignated the tracts as sovereign property.