Audit finds Corning tribe mismanaged millions in casino funds
By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Sep. 2, 2014 - 10:17 pm
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The document, which was obtained by The Sacramento Bee and secured with a program that prevented it from being printed out or copied, details spending by council officials that raised questions about home improvements; at least one trip to Disneyland; trips by Lohse to watch her son Kyle pitch in the 2011 World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals; purchase of floor-level Sacramento Kings season tickets and tickets to the 2010 Masters golf tournament; and other items.
“Although the senior tribal administrators claimed that most of their spending was for reasonable business purposes, our inquiry suggests that serious questions exist about whether substantial amounts of tribal funds were actually spent for the senior tribal administrators’ personal benefit,” the audit states.
The auditors added that because of poor or, in some cases, nonexistent bookkeeping records and the refusal of some officials to cooperate with the audit, it is difficult to determine with accuracy the state of tribal spending.
However, the audit found a number of expenses that raised questions, including:
• $93 million in investments over the last 12 years in companies, real estate or gold that were made without any comprehensive investment strategy. “Many of these ventures were unproven, high-risk, start-up companies,” the audit said. Crosby flatly rejected that finding. “A lot of these investments are long-term,” he said. “Was Apple successful right away?”
• Excessive overhead and compensation over the last dozen years that ate up at least $61 million of the $191 million left over after tribal members were paid their distributions. (The audit said reviewers were unable to account for about $10 million in spending).
• Payments of $819,000 to senior administrators for serving on the boards of tribal entities that the audit said were made without tribal council discussion or approval.
• A penchant for travel that included using the private jet for dozens of short hops between Chico and Redding or Corning and Sacramento, instead of driving at much less expense. Other trips “appear to have been partially or wholly personal,” the audit found, including 134 flights to Glendale, Ariz., by the Lohse family over a 32-month span (a Lohse son and his family live in Glendale, the audit said); and 40 flights by the Crosby family to Provo, Utah, over a 28-month period (Crosby’s daughter attended college in Provo, the audit said). Crosby said frequent trips are the nature of economic development efforts and that they were for business interests.
Read Full Article Here -->Audit finds Corning tribe mismanaged millions in casino funds
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