Community Corner
FBI Search Targets Shinnecock Gaming Authority
Offices and a gaming authority member's home were searched, Indian Country Today Media Network reports.
When the FBI descended on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton on Wednesday, agents searched the offices of the tribe's Gaming Authority as well as the home of a Gaming Authority member, according to a report by Indian Country Today Media Network.
The website reports that tribal members said that at 6 a.m. 15 to 20 FBI agents arrived plus six or seven state police vehicles.
According to the report, the offices contain documents concerning the tribe's plans to open a casino in league with a Detroit-based casino developer who is financing the effort.
“Nobody is sure what they are looking for, but whatever it is, the Board of Trustees is cooperating,” tribal spokesman Beverly Jensen told Patch Thursday.
Peter Donald, a spokesman for the FBI's New York field office, confirmed in an email that a search was underway at the Shinnecock Reservation in relation to an ongoing investigation, though he would not say the nature of the probe or the scope of the search.
Indian Country Today Media Network further reports that former Tribal Trustees Lance Gumbs and Gordell Wright requested March 28 that the National Indian Gaming Commission and other federal authorities investigate attempts to take over the tribal government and defraud the tribe of revenues.
Learn more at indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com.
