BOSTON — A former chief of a Massachusetts Native American tribe was convicted Thursday of bribery and extortion fees associated to the tribe’s long-planned on line casino undertaking, federal prosecutors mentioned.
However Cedric Cromwell, former chief of the Mashpee Wampanoag, was cleared by the federal jury in Boston of some fees, together with one depend of extortion and a depend of bribery conspiracy, prosecutors mentioned.
David DeQuattro, Cromwell’s co-defendant and the proprietor of an structure agency in Windfall, Rhode Island, was additionally equally convicted of bribery however cleared of different fees, in response to the workplace of Rachael Rollins, U.S. lawyer for Massachusetts.
The 2 shall be sentenced at a later date.
Cromwell’s lawyer did not reply to emails in search of remark, however DeQuattro’s lawyer, Martin Weinberg, mentioned he’ll be in search of a “full acquittal” for his consumer.
Mashpee Wampanoag chair Brian Weeden mentioned the case represents an “unlucky chapter” for the roughly 3,000-member tribe.
Cromwell’s predecessor as tribal chairman, Glenn Marshall, was additionally sentenced to federal jail in 2009 after pleading responsible to violating federal marketing campaign finance legal guidelines, embezzling tribal funds and different fraud fees whereas working with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff because the tribe efficiently pushed for federal recognition in 2007.
Weeden, who has mentioned tribal leaders intend to reassess their lengthy, tortuous pursuit of a on line casino, hopes to the put the case in its rearview and “deal with therapeutic our nation.”
“Tribal members are dissatisfied in Cedric Cromwell,” Weeden mentioned in an announcement. “We place an amazing quantity of belief in our elected officers. Cedric abused that belief.”
The trial, which lasted greater than two weeks, had been delayed for months by the coronavirus pandemic.
Federal prosecutors argued Cromwell, a 56-year-old Attleboro resident, used his place as chair of the federally acknowledged, Cape Cod-based tribe to extort tens of 1000’s of {dollars} in bribes and engaged in a conspiracy to commit bribery with DeQuattro.
They mentioned DeQuattro supplied Cromwell with funds and different advantages valued at almost $60,000 in alternate for almost $5 million in contracts. Prosecutors allege Cromwell then spent the funds on private bills.
Cromwell, who was eliminated as chair after his indictment in 2020, has denied in search of or accepting bribes. DeQuattro has maintained he was merely donating to Cromwell’s political marketing campaign.
Cromwell additionally nonetheless faces fees of submitting false tax returns for not reporting about $176,000 in earnings to the IRS.
The tribe’s on line casino plan has confronted years of authorized setbacks however obtained a lift in December when President Joe Biden’s administration affirmed the tribe’s sovereign reservation.
The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which traces its ancestry to the Indigenous folks the Pilgrims encountered 4 centuries in the past, broke floor in 2016 on a $1 billion resort on line casino in a former industrial park in Taunton, a metropolis south of Boston.
Dubbed First Mild, the resort was to incorporate a lodge and buying, eating and leisure choices, together with a water park.
