This article appeared in the Fresno Bee on August 17th, 2012. The casino is the Thunder Valley Casino owned by the United Auburn Indian Casino. For those keeping tabs on this kind of stuff you may recall Howard Dickstein is an attorney for United Auburn.
The article is titled:
3 charged with defrauding California tribe of $18M By DON THOMPSON - Associated Press
Here are a couple of excerpts:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Three men have been indicted on federal
charges of defrauding a casino-operating Indian tribe of more than $18
million through a kickback scheme involving the tribal administrator,
federal prosecutors said Friday.
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They are charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud
and money laundering in indictments unsealed Friday. The indictment
charges that they inflated bills related to a construction project that
included new headquarters for the tribe.
Volen, the contractor, is
alleged to have paid about $7.5 million in kickbacks to Hinz.
Prosecutors say Hinz, the quality-control expert, then used part of his
money to buy tribal administrator Baker a Lake Tahoe vacation home, a
$54,000 in-ground pool, a $70,000 BMW and a trip to Hawaii, among other
things.
In March, the Internal Revenue Service moved to seize 23
properties, including vacation homes in Lake Tahoe and Maui, as part of
the investigation.
Read The Full Article Here
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