Indianz.Com > Jeffrey Whalen: Fraud runs in many directions at Oglala Sioux Tribe

Jeffrey Whalen: Fraud runs in many directions at Oglala Sioux Tribe
Friday, August 19, 2011
Filed Under: Opinion
More on: cangleska, jeffrey whalen, native sun news, oglala sioux, south dakota

Karen Artichoker

The Cangleska rip off saga continues. Last week I provided some information on what was occurring within this Oglala Sioux Tribal Chartered organization and I promised to mention some names and other facts as it is being reported according to a forensic audit that was recently performed.

Cangleska Inc., provides comprehensive domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy and services to citizens of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. However, under the previous management, they didn’t stay within their scope of work and entered into questionable activities instead.

On October 10, 2006, Karen Artichoker and George Twiss who were board members of Cangleska entered into a commercial loan agreement on behalf of Cangleska, Inc., with the Native American Bank in Browning, Montana. The amount of the loan was $1,000,000.00 and per agreement was for business purposes. Currently this loan is in default status with Native American Bank.

On April 2, 2008 Mr. B. J. Jones formed Waegle, LLC. The auditor was unable to find a copy of the contract authorizing B. J. Jones to provide legal services for Cangleska, Inc. The auditor notes payments totaling $110,490.00 to B. J. Jones, ESQ which is inconsistent with a comment in the Board of Directors meeting that indicated B. J. Jones would be providing services on a pro-bono basis.

Later, Mr. Wayne Weston, who was a director at the time of the audit informed the auditors that Mr. Jones had denied providing attorney services for Cangleska in his communications with Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones is currently a Supreme Court Justice for the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

Dated November 13, 2008, the auditor found incorporating documents on three “for profit” entities known as Waegle, LLC., Waegle Energy, LLC., and Waegle Construction, LLC. The registered agent for each of these entities was Ben Artichoker who was at the time the Chief Financial Officer of Cangleska.

Cangleska was not reported as an owner of any of these entities. Records indicate that Mr. B. J. Jones was the attorney who provided legal advice to form these companies.

The business purpose of the entities was unknown. Waegle, LLC was referred as a “subsidiary” of Cangleska in documents the auditor found. And it was also referred to as a subsidiary in a contract to act as a distributorship for TEAM Industries, Inc., which manufactures building products.

The auditor also found a position paper where Waegle, LLC was soliciting for business partners for a wind energy project. Cangleska was referred to in this paper as a majority owner of Waegle, LLC. Only Waegle, LLC remains an active corporation. Waegle Energy and Waegle Construction were dissolved in July 2009.

In reality, Waegle, LLC is owned by Karen Artichoker 64 percent, George Twiss nine percent, Ben Artichoker nine percent, Oliver Mousseau nine percent and Gene Artichoker nine percent.

Waegle Energy was owned by Waegle, LLC 55 percent, Gene Artichoker 9 percent, Karen Artichoker 9 percent, George Twiss 9 percent, Ben Artichoker 9 percent and Oliver Mousseau 9 percent.

Waegle Construction LLC was owned by a former Oglala Sioux Tribal President Ms. Cecilia Fire Thunder 51 percent, Waegle LLC 17 percent, Karen Artichoker 9 percent, Ben Artichoker 9 percent, Oliver Mousseau 9 percent and Adam Clifford 5 percent.

According to Weston, who was hired as the Cangleska Director after all the fraud occurred and who was attempting to clean up some of the mess created by the former staff, as of September 1, 2009 Cangleska had approximately $300,000 in unpaid bills and overdrawn checking account balances. There was an estimated $40,000 in overdraft fees that had accumulated over the past few years.

Two construction projects were only 60 percent complete with no remaining funds available to complete the projects. There were problems with the charter as several years ago the tribe approved of the charter but Cangleska was also incorporated as a non-profit organization through the State of South Dakota. This created a conflict.

A person named Sara Perry who is from the Department of Justice was working on this case as well. She visited with the auditors and invited individuals from the FBI and the Inspector General’s Office from the Department of Health and Human Services to discuss the problems created by former Cangleska staff.

Then Ms. Perry visited again on January 26, 2010, and brought a fellow named Joe Liebertz who was introduced as a fraud investigator for the Department of Justice. Both Ms. Perry and Mr. Liebertz indicated that they had a subpoena for the financial records of Cangleska.

On April 8, 2010, the Tribal Finance and Judiciary Committees met on the subject where Rosalie Janis was approved as the new director for the shelter. According to an October 21, 2010 letter to the tribe the auditor requested a meeting with Ms. Janis to discuss the financial situation concerning Cangleska, but the auditor was never granted a meeting.

The letter was in reference to a contract the auditor secured with the tribe to perform a forensic audit on Cangleska. After the auditor did research, the letter speaks of missing documents and how several attorneys were working with the new staff in an attempt to clean up some of the suspect transactions. It seems that the new director Ms. Janis should have met with the auditors to discuss those issues, but evidence shows that she declined.

On Dec. 6, 2010, the new tribal council was elected and a new Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. James “Toby” Big Boy, is seated and he took proper action, revisited the Cangleska issue, started making inquiries and subsequently received a letter from the auditor on June 22, 2011.

Basically the letter had several attachments for proof positive that fraud was uncovered in the previous Two Bulls/Brewer administration. It also gave details of what had occurred concerning the forensic audit of Cangleska. The auditor noted that they were no longer needed under contract with the Tribe as the FBI and Department of Justice was supposed to continue investigating the fraud instead.

Bank accounts in Cangleska’s name were discovered but there was no documentation identifying reasons why the accounts were established in the first place. There was a $50,000 line of credit that Mr. Weston believed was connected to a credit card, but did not know who had the card.

There is a note in the audit that references “Board Minutes” and indicates that the board Chairperson Ms. Marilyn Pourier never received minutes of their meetings to review and approve. Ms. Pourier indicated that when she requested the minutes, the management never provided them to her. Ms. Pourier said she had never seen some of the documents and that various motions in the minutes indicated they were approved by consensus, but in reality they were never approved at all.

The auditor was unable to obtain a copy of the contract authorizing Jamie C. Arobba to provide accounting services for Cangleska, Inc. Mr. Arobba is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) based out of Wounded Knee.

Per their review of the consultant payments, the auditor noted payments totaling $116,691.00 to Mr. Arobba. The only reference noted in the board minutes was mentioned that Mr. Arobba would be assisting with the 2006 and 2007 financial audits, but where is the contract?

Travel: The total travel payments for the three (3) years reviewed was $1,248,439.00 for just a handful of people. Sods Construction received $933,101.00 in construction advances from the proceeds usage for the Native American Bank loan. Construction advance payments are extremely unusual and are questionable.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. The evidence will remain on file at the Native Sun News office. There is much more information to provide to the general public. These are the reasons why I keep telling the Oyate to take control of their future and demand accountability of the money that is being spent by our elected officials and their constituents because we all have a right to know where fraud exists.

A forensic audit should be performed on many, many tribally chartered and unchartered programs. The Empowerment Zone is a prime candidate, you will find that a current Tribal Council member received upwards of over $350,000 and never paid it back. You will also find that a current program director received a very substantial amount of money and never paid it back. Public Safety and the Prairie Winds Casino should be next. Stay safe and be strong.

(Contact Jeffrey Whalen at jeffrey.waylon2@gmail.com)