Former Mashpee Wampanoag Chair Charged With Tax Evasion

MASHPEE, MA — The former chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe was indicted in federal court Monday after prosecutors said he filed false tax returns, hiding over $177,000 from the IRS.

Cedric Cromwell, 55, of Attleboro, was charged with four counts of filing a false tax return. Prosecutors said the new charges are in connection with a bribery scheme surrounding the tribe's plan to build a resort and casino in Taunton. Cromwell was indicted on those bribery charges in November 2020, along with Cromwell's business partner, David DeQuattro, 54, of Warwick, Rhode Island.

According to prosecutors, Cromwell failed to report bribes he received from DeQuattro's company on his personal income tax returns. From 2014 through 2017. Cromwell hid the bribes from the IRS, which prosecutors said he received while DeQuattro's company was contracted to serve as the tribe's "owner's representative" for the casino project.

Prosecutors said Cromwell failed to report $39,000 in 2014, $57,374 in 2015, $26,884 in 2016 and $54,134 in 2017.

Prosecutors said Cromwell also failed to report payments for consulting services that he performed for a company that developed and supplied forest carbon offsets, including by partnering with forest-owning Native American tribes. Cromwell was paid the consulting income through an intermediary identified as "P-Co.," which was formed by a business associate of Cromwell, prosecutors said. The business associate was the only authorized signatory on a bank account identified as the "P-Co. Shell Company Account."

Prosecutors said Cromwell also didn't report income to his company One Nation Development, paid through the shell company account and the bank account of a Florida limited partnership. The only authorized signatory on the investment holding company's bank account was the CEO of a Las Vegas-based architecture firm hired to be the architect for the tribe’s casino project.

If convicted, Cromwell faces a potential three-year prison sentence with one year of supervised release and a $100,000 fine.