The trial of disgraced former Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell, scheduled for the first week in September is now slated to begin in early January 2022. The delay says a few things about the scandal that has enveloped the Tribe.
Cromwell is praying for an act of God to get him out of this jam.
In so many federal cases, these kind of delays signal the need for more information from the indicted person(s). With the extraordinary amount of money funneled through the tribal Gaming Authority and the continuing interviews of members involved, the focus appears to have shifted to the body that operated in the utmost secrecy and control of Genting. Seven years of transactions in the hundreds of millions of dollars is a lot to verify. Clearly Cedric is not the end of the line. Flipping on the gaming mogul could take years off Cromwell’s sentence. Surely they didn’t think the Justice Department would overlook the glaring wrongdoing.
The net is wide and could sweep up Mark Harding former Treasurer and Cedric’s business partner (who proudly brought Genting to the table): Gordon Harris, Jessie Baird, Yvonne Frye Avant and others in finance.
Not a happy time for the Mashpee Wampanoag trying to move forward.
