Oglala Sioux Tribe Casino Manager Allows For "Theft" of $500,000.00 From Tribal Members
Prairie Winds
Casino GM writes off half-million dollars plus, monies MIS-USED by
former Tribal Chairwoman Theresa Two Bulls and her Tribal Council
By Jeffrey Whalen
I wrote an article some time
ago about how the past Tribal Council members racked up a lot of bills
at the tribe’s casino. Since then the General Manager (GM) has
been pretty uncomfortable with what I have been reporting to the Oglala
Nation and has apparently told some council members that my articles are
causing the casino to lose revenue.
I have an extremely hard time
believing that my articles are at the root of this loss. As a
matter of fact I think my articles are going to cause the Casino to
start saving money and to start putting the money into the right places.
Besides, I just started writing about the casino and they have not been
able to pay their bills for years.
I and several tribal council
members witnessed an accounting of casino documents stacked about one
full ream of paper high where all the documents were for unpaid
billings. Most of it was connected to the former tribal council and
their illustrious spending.
We were shown documents where
the former council members racked up $265,000.00 dollars in unpaid bills
for the hotel and $55,000.00 worth of unpaid bills at the restaurant.
Wow! I don’t have a thing against the Casino GM and as a matter of
fact I have never met him. However, I would question anybody’s
management skills if they are not able to control their own billing
procedures. When I reported to the Oyate that this money was
uncollected and that it totaled $320,000.00, the casino GM was very
upset with me for exposing this uncollected debt.
Anyone can get on line and down
load a copy of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) and they can also
download a copy of the Tribes Law & Order Act concerning gaming.
When you do a side by side comparison of those two documents you will
find that on the IGRA side tribes must submit annual audits to the
National Indian Gaming Commissioners and there are no restrictions
concerning the audits.
Then look up Oglala Sioux
Tribal Law & Order Act and scroll into the gaming portion and on to the
section concerning audits. You will find that the Oglala’s are
restricted in only allowing tribal council members access to the
auditing books. Their reasoning is and in terms of the Tribe’s
Gaming Commission, they don’t want to give up information on marketing,
financial or sales data that might be harmful to the competitive
position of the casino. And they don’t want to give up information
concerning the Gaming Commissions auditing worksheets.
To me, it looks like they don’t
want to give up information on their own alleged illegal activities
instead. I keep saying that this tribal ordinance is wrong and it
is hiding information that should be provided to the Oglala Nation
because we are all stake holders in this venture, meaning as Oglala
Sioux Tribal members we are all owners of our gaming facilities.
And we have a right to see financial documents from all of our
businesses. And I keep saying that if financial information is
being hidden, then someone must be hiding fraud as well.
The Casino GM has disputed my
articles in private and in public has blamed me for a loss of revenues
at the casino. If that is so, then why within the last few weeks,
is he asking the Tribe’s Economic and Business Development Committee to
write off half-million million dollars? And even worse, why did
that committee approve the write off? I must have missed something
because a few months ago I only reported $320,000.00 worth of
uncollected billings. Now the GM wants to write off $180,000.00
more than that. What gives? I for one want to know exactly
why he is requesting to have this much written off. Who owes this
money and why? I already know the bulk of the money is owed by
former council members. Why doesn’t the Casino Management Staff
give Native Sun News a detailed list of everything? What are they
afraid of? It is our right to know.
It gets worse; the write off of
$500,000.00 was for district allocations, meaning the districts will not
get their money. This may violate the terms of the IGRA where this
money is to be used for governmental services. Also the GM asked
for and got an additional write off of $156,250.00 for unpaid gaming
device fees. The total write off is $656,250.00.
The casino employees who have
been working there for years have not gotten very much pay raises.
Some of them are still making minimum wages. How can this be?
Those employees should be making fairly good wages by now, and yet the
amount of money they earn is held down by half a million dollars in
write offs. That money could be going to increase casino employee
salaries. Those are good, hardworking folks who earned extra pay.
If the GM is incapable of collecting the money that is owed to the
casino then why is he still working there? And why are the leaders
allowing him to simply write off this debt? Tribal Council members
better start looking hard at these numbers and better start
understanding what they mean. If they don’t understand them then
they should give the numbers to someone who can interpret them.
Remember, collection activities
still continue when a debt is owed even after it is written off.
For example, how many of the readers have gone into debt and could not
pay it back? Did you get calls and letters from irate bill
collectors? Yes you did. The casino GM needs to continue
collection activities to cover this $656,250.00 write off and if he
can’t perform his job by saying “NO” to giving rooms and
meals to council persons who owe the casino
money, then maybe we should find someone who can. The latest joke from
the GM’s cover-up is that the tribal council’s free room and meals is
for “Promotional Purposes. I think all of us would like to be a part of
the promotional program. Remember guys, I’m just the messenger.
Stay strong, be safe, ignore the illusion and fight for the truth.
Jeff