St. Croix Chippewa Indian Tribe of Wisconsin accused of embezzling $1.5M from casino

According to federal regulators, tribal leaders of the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin pocketed a minimum of $1.5 million in casino funds or used the revenues to cover expenses for trips to Las Vegas and Hawaii, with either no receipts or documentation, or too little, accounting for the disbursements.I certainly haven not seen (a Notice of Violation) as large as this. Tribal gaming funds are strictly regulated and should be used to provide badly needed government service and build infrastructure. onlinecasinodollar

According to the Friday report from the Milwaukee newspaper, 74 payments totaling $154,173 were listed among the distributions in the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) 29-page Notice of Violation that went to the tribe's longtime chairman, Lewis Taylor, from 2014 to 2017. While 94 payments totaling $235,888 were received by Tribal Council member Elmer Jay Emery during the same period, the United States independent federal regulatory agency within the Department of the Interior charged.Additionally, regulators said that 275 payments totaling $562,246 were issued to seven tribal members by the St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake from 2015 to 2017.

Along with the Turtle Lake casino and hotel, which employs about 1,000 people, the Federally recognized tribe located in northwestern Wisconsin is responsible for the Little Turtle Hertel Express Casino in Hertel, and the St. Croix Casino and Hotel Danbury in Danbury.In total, the lengthy Notice of Violation comprises 527 violations of the 1988 United States federal law that establishes the jurisdictional framework that governs Indian gaming, Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), along with tribal ordinances and NIGC regulations. According to the notice, the total fine could well exceed $27 million, with each violation resulting in a fine of $52,596.