The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe,embroiled for years in legal complications to save it's reservation,has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury.
It is unclear if individual tribe members were subpoenaed as part of the federal probe,the feds say the tribe is not the target of the investigation.
A copy of the letter from federal prosecutors to the tribe obtained by masslive.com said:"Pursuant to an official investigation conducted by a federal grand jury in the district of Massachusetts of suspected violations of criminal law"."You are directed to furnish to the grand jury all documents described in the subpoena" letter signed by US attorney Andrew Lelling and asst. US attorney Christine Wichers.
The news comes roughly a year after after a federal grand jury issued subpoenas for the tribes sitting treasurer,Gordan Harris and hie predecessor Robert Hendricks,it's unclear if the two federal subpoenas are related.
The tribe has been embroiled in a legal fight to secure it's reservation since 2016,after the US district court for Massachusetts ordered that the tribe's casino in Taunton be halted because they didn't fit the definition of a reservation under the 1934 Indian reorganization act.
Tribal chairman Cedric Cromwell has more recently come under fire for his handling of tribe finances,the 2,600 member Mashpee tribe has debt. of more than $500 million.The tribe tried to oust Cromwell last year but the effort was ultimately stymied by a cancelled recall election.
The subpoenas come several months after the federal government disestablished the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe,representitives of the Cromwell administration could not be reached for questioning.
After the recent decision in Oklahoma I see this going to the supreme court,this post was quite an adventure,my laptop updated and restarted right in the middle of me posting.But luckely all the words I typed were still there after the update.
masslive.com
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Forever gone
Sorry I ever joined
15 Jul 2020, 10:51 am
