MASHPEE — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction that would delay the tribe’s land from being taken out of trust.
On Monday, the tribe asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to issue an emergency order that would delay Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s decision to remove its land from trust.
“Emergency relief is needed to allow the Tribe to obtain a final judicial determination on whether the Secretary had authority (to) take the land into trust, whether the Indian Reorganization Act’s first or second definition; without such relief, the Tribe will be irreparably harmed,” the emergency motion reads.
In a statement released Tuesday, the tribe said the U.S. District Court will issue a formal order confirming that the federal government must refrain from disestablishing the tribe’s reservation until it rules on the motion for a preliminary injunction.
“While the Tribe is grateful for this temporary reprieve, we remain deeply concerned about the fate of our Reservation,” Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said in a statement. “That said, the outpouring of support from both the Native and non-Native community gives us hope and bolsters our courage.”
Last week, Bernhardt ordered the Bureau of Indian Affairs to disestablish the tribe’s 321 acres of reservation land that was put into trust under the Obama administration.
After the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the secretary of the Interior lacked statutory authority to acquire land in trust for the tribe, the tribe did not petition for a rehearing, according to a letter from Bernhardt to the director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The appeals court issued a formal mandate in accordance with its judgment, the letter reads.
“With the Mandate now issued, the Department must take steps to rescind the Decision,” Bernhardt wrote in the letter. “To ensure compliance with the First Circuit’s Mandate, I direct your office to rescind the Decision whereby the BIA accepted land into trust on behalf of the Tribe, and to revoke the reservation proclamation.”
The motion argues that the secretary’s order did not acknowledge that the tribe’s right to file a petition for review was not due until May 26. It also argues that the secretary’s order ignored ongoing litigation.
In 2016, the tribe appealed a ruling that disqualified it for land in trust status. In a separate action, the tribe filed suit against the Interior Department in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to challenge its reversal.
The tribe argues in the emergency motion that removing its land from trust status would impose economic harm on the tribe, could endanger the health and well-being of tribal members as a result of the loss of federal funding and result in a cultural loss.
“The significance of the reservation to the Tribe cannot be overstated,” the motion reads. “These are the lands of the Tribe’s ancestors, the lands where they are buried, and a place of immense spiritual and cultural importance to the Tribe.”
The tribe would lose funding from the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations program, which helps low-income tribal members. The program received more funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
“In the midst of the virulent COVID-19 pandemic, these funds too no longer will be available if Mashpee’s lands are no longer held in trust as a reservation,” the motion states. “This is immediate irreparable harm that would endanger the health of the Tribe’s members.”
The tribe would also have to pay for property taxes on the land if it is removed from trust, according to the motion.
“Because the Tribe currently has no available revenue stream and is struggling to keep its government operating, these lands could very well be subject to foreclosure for non-payment of taxes and the Tribe will lose them,” the plaintiff argues in the motion.
The tribe had planned to start construction of a child care facility in the spring using approved funding from the Administration for Children and Families Child Care Development Fund, according to the motion, but that project would be canceled if the land is taken out of trust.
Also at risk are other departments of the tribe, such as the Mashpee Tribal Historic Preservation Office, according to the motion.
The tribe’s 42 affordable housing units, which are near completion, would revert to local and state jurisdiction and would not meet local zoning requirements if Bernhardt’s decision is upheld.
“Not only will this prevent Tribal members from moving into much needed low-income housing in the late summer or early fall, but it would also mean that the Tribe has spent $12 million, relying on low-income housing credits, to build housing that cannot be occupied,” the motion reads.
Genting Connected to Islamic Extremists?
The money rush is on. A shady, but well-heeled Asian casino gambling giant swoops into town, buys an outdated office facility and valuable underlying real estate from the Miami Herald and launches a multi-million dollar campaign to approve non-Indian casino gambling in Florida and put a license on the former Miami Herald tract.
Kuala Lumpur-based Genting has multinational operations in tourism, resorts, gambling, plantations, power generation, and oil and gas. Genting’s market capitalization value, or net worth, reached $46 billion at the end of last year — making it one of Malaysia’s largest companies.
The Miami Herald suspends their normally skeptical eye, conducts no due-diligence on their new Chinese friends from Malaysia and their newspaper becomes a public relations machine for a client they don’t even really know.
Every glad-handing semi-corrupt politician in Miami-Dade and the City of Miami with their hand out will be jumping on the Genting gravy train. Genting is a target for every con-man lobbyist/political consultant/PR man which Miami-Dade County abounds with.
Recently a group of “Community Leaders” were flown to South East Asia including visits to Genting casinos in Malaysia and Singapore. Genting refuses to disclose the names of “Community Leaders” – including elected officials – who were flown to South East Asia in a private luxury jet and wined and dined at 5-Star resorts reserved for high-rollers in the Asian gaming world.
World Resorts Genting, also known as Genting Highlands, opened in 1965 and is the company’s flagship resort in Malaysia. The resort features Malaysia’s only land-based casino, six hotels, three theme parks, a convention center, and numerous restaurants and nightclubs, among other attractions.
Resorts World Sentosa, which opened last year in Singapore, features one of the world’s most expensive casinos, six hotels, a Universal Studios theme park and a Marine Life Park, among other features. The Florida Delegation visited both, reportedly racking up more than $790,000 worth of hotel, restaurant, spa and entertainment costs in both 5-Star resorts.
Genting has retained a team of slick lobbyists including Jonathan Kilman, with the law firm of Foley & Lardner. Kilman’s partner, Chris Kise, is under investigation for erasing email records generated during Governor Rick Scott’s Inauguration. The missing emails are thought to contain correspondence exposing the business dealings of Kise and Scott’s political adviser Enu Mainigi. Scott has ordered the FDLE review. Kise insists the emails were erased accidently. Foley and Lardner’s influence in the Governor’s office is not likely to be strong in 2012.
Before it’s over, expect that Genting, their lobbyists, and other retainers, will lavish the Republican Party of Florida and other selected party redistricting vehicles with millions of dollars. They’ll even buy Governor Rick Scott a golden toilet seat for the Governors mansion is he wants!
Genting, the Asian casino giant, does not hold a casino gaming license in any U.S. jurisdiction that has serious regulation. New York State requires relatively little scrutiny in the contract Genting has with the State of New York to operate slot machines at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Genting made millions of dollars as the money-men behind two controversial Indian Casino gaming developments in the Eastern United States. In both cases, Genting operations were directed by G. Michael Brown, a former New Jersey Attorney General who was later charged with embezzlement and cocaine use in the Seneca Tribal Court.
Brown was charged with putting various mistresses on the casino payroll and using casino funds to pay for luxury condominiums, imported sports cars and expensive jewelry for them. Brown famously drove a 4-door sedan owned by the Seneca Tribe through the picture window of a Niagara Falls resident while driving drunk.
Genting was the financier of the Seneca Niagara Casino Hotel in Niagara Falls, New York. Genting charged the tribe an exorbitant 28 percent interest rate, potentially in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulations under the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Genting also stayed in the deal for almost 15 years when they were legally limited to five. Seneca Tribal Council members have testified that armed Chinese thugs showed up to collect Genting’s money when tribal lawyers pointed out that Genting was violating the law.
All of this became known to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, which held hearings and launched an investigation into corruption in the Indian gaming industry in the United States. But what the Senate Committee found out about Genting was even more disturbing: an apparent pattern of multi-million dollar payments to Islamic extremist organizations in Malaysia who most definitely are not friends of the United States of America.
U.S. Senate Special Committee records regarding Genting and their financing of multiple Islamic-based organizations in Malaysia are classified. Some U.S. Senator needs to launch an investigation to determine whether Genting has relationships that would make their holding a casino license in Miami (a money machine) inappropriate. U.S. Senate staff investigators should get a firm understanding of Genting’s questionable relationships in Malaysia and China.
Genting executives told Senate investigators at the time that the millions of dollars funneled to various Islamic extremist organizations known to finance jihad were made under direst and viewed as a cost of doing business for a Chinese businessman in heavily Islam-run Malaysia. Investigators had reason to be skeptical when photos of K.T. Lim and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il surfaced. The Senate investigators also obtained photos of Lim socializing with at least two Islamic figures wanted by the United States for terrorist activities.
Senate investigators were also interested in K.T. Lim’s relationship with Stanley Ho, the Asian casino magnate who has been identified as a member of the Chinese Triad, the Chinese crime organization, by the U.S. Justice Department and by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Ho has been denied a casino license in every jurisdiction except in Macau and North Korea. Genting has refused to address their business dealings with Ho and his company Shun Tak Holdings Ltd.
While the Miami Herald is telling us that Genting boss K.T. Lim is a brilliant businessman, he could be one of the largest funders of Islamic terrorist activity in Asia. Instead of giving press conferences to the Miami Herald, perhaps K.T. should be interrogated under subpoena by U.S. Senate lawyers.
The Miami-Dade politicians who suck up Genting’s food, drink and accommodations and support Genting’s development will jump off of them like rats when they learn where a substantial portion of Genting’s profits in Florida may be going. Just because Genting has a lot of money doesn’t mean that they are suitable to operate casinos in the United States based on their associations and business practices.
Neither Governor Rick Scott, nor Senate President Mike Haridopolos will agree to casino gaming without a local county referendum. Perhaps Miami’s Cuban voters should decide whether they want to approve a casino for a foreign company who could be financing Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Nothing short of full disclosure of all the finances and holdings of Genting should be required under Florida casino regulation. If they deny ties to radical Islam only full disclosure will verify this claim, a protection the public requires.
New Jersey Casino Control law is considered the toughest in the country and is the model for casino regulation in the rest of the country. Nevada’s regulations are similar, but the process in that small state is “more political.” Florida’s casino regulation must not and cannot be lax. We need to know far, far more about Genting and their friends before they get a casino license in Florida.
Wampanoag "Good Faith" reveals itself in campaign expenditures
Of those Taunton residents hired to work as "campaign consultants" on the Together for Taunton campaign, solely funded by the Wampanoag's financial backers in Malaysia, all were paid significantly less than the Mashpee tribe member consultants and other non-Taunton residents hired. In fact, non-Taunton resident employees were paid 88 percent higher wages on average by the Wampanoag for their campaign work.
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