Non-Indian law firm receives a cut of tribal gaming revenues

Monday, January 23, 2012  

Howard Dickstein, a non-Indian attorney, has received a share of gaming revenues from at least two of the tribes he has represented, The Sacramento Bee reports.

Dickstein and his firm received 1 percent of profits from the casino owned by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. According to a lawsuit that was settled in state court, the tribe paid him $18 million between 1993 and 2006 for his work.

Up until 2009, Dickstein received 2 percent from the casino owned by the United Auburn Indian Community. According to former council officials who have since been banished from the reservation, the tribe paid him $26 million over six years, with most of that amount coming from gaming.

The National Indian Gaming Commission was asked to look into the arrangement but nothing seems to have come of it. Dickstein and his firm are still being paid a flat fee of $80,000 a month by the tribe, The Bee reported.

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Sacramento attorney Howard Dickstein has made tribes rich, comes under fire (The Sacramento Bee 1/22)