{"id":141853,"date":"2020-07-15T15:44:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T22:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=141853"},"modified":"2020-07-16T08:05:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T15:05:22","slug":"mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury\/","title":{"rendered":"Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Financial Records Subpoenaed by Federal Grand Jury"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal grand jury has ordered the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts to hand over all documents and records related to its finances, MassLive<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\"Mashpee
Mashpee Wampanoag tribal members protest the Department of the Interior’s decision to rescind their reservation in 2018. (Image: Cape Cod Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For years, the tribe — which traces its ancestry to the Native Americans who broke bread with the Pilgrims in 1621 — has been engaged in a legal battle over its sovereign status. This includes its right to build a $1 billion casino resort in Taunton, 50 miles from its base in Cape Cod.<\/p>\n

Last September, the tribe\u2019s current and former chief financial officers, Gordon Harris and his predecessor, Robert Hendricks, were also subpoenaed by a federal grand jury for reasons that are still unclear.<\/p>\n

Grand jury proceedings are conducted in secret. But it is not the jurors\u2019 role to determine guilt or innocence — just whether there is probable cause to believe a person or persons committed a crime after hearing evidence presented by a federal prosecutor.<\/p>\n

Tribal Tensions <\/strong><\/h2>\n

But there have been concerns about the tribes\u2019 financial situation and a perceived lack of transparency from the Tribal Council since 2018 when the Department of the Interior (DOI) reversed an Obama-era decision to take land into trust to create a Mashpee reservation.<\/p>\n

Not only did this dramatic u-turn imperil the tribes\u2019 sovereign status, but it also sunk its plans for a Taunton casino. The Mashpee\u2019s partner on the project, Malaysian casino giant Genting, pulled its money, which also happened to be buttressing the tribal fund. The tribe owes Genting around $500 million.<\/p>\n

\n

Last year, a faction within the tribe called for the removal of Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell and his right-hand woman, Jessie \u201cLittle Doe\u201d Baird, along with Treasurer Harris. At the time, an anonymous robocall designed to whip up support for their ousting alleged that $250 million was missing from the Mashpee tribal fund.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018Contrary to Law\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Things were at their grimmest for the Mashpee in March<\/a> of this year, when the DOI informed the tribe its reservation would be disestablished. This came a month after the tribe lost a crucial appeal<\/a> of a 2015 District Court judgment that the Obama administration had erred by placing land into trust for the tribe.<\/p>\n

But in June, the Mashpee were thrown a lifeline. A federal judge ruled in a separate case that DOI\u2019s actions were \u201carbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Judge Paul Friedman of the US District Court for the District of Columbia batted the issue back to the DOI, with a strong recommendation that it reconsider its position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal grand jury has ordered the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts to hand over all documents and records related to its finances, MassLive reports. For years, the tribe — which traces its ancestry to the Native Americans who broke bread with the Pilgrims in 1621 — has been engaged in a legal battle over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":141854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMashpee Wampanoag Finances Subpoenaed by Federal Grand Jury<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts has financial records subpoenaed by federal grand jury for reasons unknown, but there\u2019s hope for Taunton casino.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mashpee Wampanoag Finances Subpoenaed by Federal Grand Jury\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts has financial records subpoenaed by federal grand jury for reasons unknown, but there\u2019s hope for Taunton casino.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-15T22:44:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-16T15:05:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/mashpee.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury\/\",\"name\":\"Mashpee Wampanoag Finances Subpoenaed by Federal Grand Jury\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/mashpee.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-15T22:44:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-16T15:05:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts has financial records subpoenaed by federal grand jury for reasons unknown, but there\u2019s hope for Taunton casino.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mashpee-wampanoag-tribe-financial-records-subpoenaed-by-federal-grand-jury\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/mashpee.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/mashpee.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"Mashpee Wampanoag tribal members protest the Department of the Interior decision to rescind their reservation in 2018. 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