The $350 million Saracen construction process recently became the subject of a forensic audit following a whistleblower\u2019s complaint. Auditors discovered that $34 million in tribal funds may have been misspent on \u201cpay raises, bonuses, severance pay, and donations.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the auditors, both Berrey and the Nation\u2019s former secretary treasurer, Tamara Smiley-Reeves, siphoned the money from the Downstream Development Authority without the approval of the tribal business committee, a violation of the tribe\u2019s code.<\/p>\n
The complaints outline various levels of involvement and collaboration between the individuals to pay one another illegal bonuses totaling millions of dollars and illegally increase base pay and benefits,\u201d<\/strong> the tribe claimed in its news release.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cThe investigation also found deliberate attempts to conceal the unlawful behavior by either omitting information from official meeting minutes or keeping information in official tribal records intentionally vague.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berrey Countersues for Libel<\/strong><\/h2>\nBerrey failed to get re-elected as tribal chairman last July. He denies allegations of wrongdoing, and on Monday filed a lawsuit in Cleveland County District County accusing current Quapaw Nation officials of libel.<\/p>\n
In a comment to Arkansas Business,<\/em> he criticized the news release sent out Monday.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s awkward that the people who brought this complaint want it to be out in the broader public,\u201d Berrey said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a way to address complaints in the tribal government and that\u2019s where it ought to stay. This is all politically motivated and it\u2019s false.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n“My number one goal now is to allay the fears and anxiety that our tribal members are feeling over all of this nonsense,\u201d he added. \u201cI’ll beat it in court, and I’ll return to the Business Committee for the good of our people.”<\/p>\n
Berrey said he is planning to run for vice chairman this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma filed criminal charges on Monday against its former chairman. The Nation is accusing John L Berrey in the tribal court of embezzlement and other crimes. Accompanying the criminal complaint is a civil lawsuit that seeks $7 million, plus damages, from Berrey and several of his former staff members, claiming fraud […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":171134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Quapaw Nation Charges Former Chairman Berrey with Embezzlement<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n