https://www.masslive.com/casinos/2022/05/former-mashpee-wampanoag-tribal-leader-cedric-cromwell-convicted-in-casino-bribery-case.html

Former Mashpee Wampanoag tribal leader Cedric Cromwell convicted in casino bribery case

A former leader of a Massachusetts Native American tribe was convicted Thursday of bribery and extortion charges related to the tribe’s long-planned casino project, federal prosecutors said.

But Cedric Cromwell, former leader of the Mashpee Wampanoag, was cleared by the federal jury in Boston of some charges, including one count of extortion and a count of bribery conspiracy, prosecutors said.

David DeQuattro, Cromwell’s co-defendant and the owner of an architecture firm in Providence, Rhode Island, was also similarly convicted of bribery but cleared of other charges, according to the office of Rachael Rollins, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.

The two will be sentenced in September.

Cromwell’s lawyer didn’t respond to emails seeking comment, but DeQuattro’s lawyer, Martin Weinberg, said he’ll be seeking a “complete acquittal” for his client.

Mashpee Wampanoag chair Brian Weeden said the case represents an “unfortunate chapter” for the roughly 3,000-member tribe.

>Cromwell’s predecessor as tribal chairman, Glenn Marshall, was also sentenced to federal prison in 2009 after pleading guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws, embezzling tribal funds and other fraud charges while working with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff as the tribe successfully pushed for federal recognition in 2007.

Weeden, who has said tribal leaders intend to reassess their long, tortuous pursuit of a casino, hopes to put the case in its rearview and “focus on healing our nation.”

“Tribal members are disappointed in Cedric Cromwell,” Weeden said in a statement. “We place a tremendous amount of trust in our elected officials. Cedric abused that trust.”

The 10-day trial had been delayed for months by the coronavirus pandemic.

Federal prosecutors argued that Cromwell accepted $10,000, a home gym system and a weekend stay at an upscale Boston hotel from DeQuattro in exchange for nearly $5 million in casino project contracts between 2015 and 2017.

“The quid pro quo scheme that he orchestrated with David DeQuattro was an affront to the Tribe that elected him to serve their best interests,” Joseph Bonavolonta, head of the FBI’s Boston office, said in a statement.

Cromwell, who was removed as chair after his indictment in 2020, has denied seeking or accepting bribes. DeQuattro has maintained he was simply donating to Cromwell’s political campaign.

Cromwell still also faces charges of filing false tax returns for not reporting about $176,000 in income to the IRS.

The tribe’s casino plan has faced years of legal setbacks but got a boost in December when President Joe Biden’s administration affirmed the tribe’s sovereign reservation.

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which traces its ancestry to the Indigenous people the Pilgrims encountered four centuries ago, broke ground in 2016 on a $1 billion resort casino in a former industrial park in Taunton, a city south of Boston.

Dubbed First Light, the resort was to include a hotel and shopping, dining and entertainment options, including a water park.

https://www.madeformums.com/news/elon-musk-children-bio

Elon Musk and children – family facts

>Entrepreneur Elon Musk has a large family of children, including sets of twins and triplets, plus two children with singer Grimes

EXCERPTS:

Elon Musk’s children:

• Elon’s first son, Nevada Alexander Musk, was born in 2002. Tragically, Nevada passed away aged 10 weeks.

• Elon and wife Justine then welcomed twin sons Griffin Musk and Xavier Musk, born in 2004, via IVF.

• Their triplet sons Kai Musk, Saxon Musk and Damian Musk, were born in 2006, also via IVF.

• In May 2020 Elon then announced the birth of his son on Twitter, whom he welcomed with his girlfriend, singer Grimes. Their son is called X Æ A-Xii, known as ‘X’

• In March 2022, it was revealed in a Vanity Fair feature that Elon and Grimes had welcomed a daughter in December 2021 via surrogate, whom they’ve called Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, shortened to ‘Y’.

Elon Musk’s son passes away of SIDS

In 2002, Justine gave birth to a baby boy, named Nevada Alexander Musk.

Tragically, the infant passed away later in the same year. At 10 weeks old, Nevada died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Justine detailed the experience of her grief in the same Marie Claire piece: “We moved to Los Angeles and had our first child, a boy named Nevada Alexander.

“The same week that Elon’s net worth went to well over $100 million [following the sale of PayPal], Nevada went down for a nap, placed on his back as always, and stopped breathing.

“He was 10 weeks old, the age when male infants are most susceptible to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

“By the time the paramedics resuscitated him, he had been deprived of oxygen for so long that he was brain-dead. He spent 3 days on life support in a hospital in Orange County before we made the decision to take him off it.

“I held him in my arms when he died.”

We can only imagine the impact of this sort of loss on both mum and dad. What we do know is that the couple made the decision to try and get pregnant again.

Is she snorting coke in the courtroom?

https://twitter.com/slownewsdayshow/status/1522404090491195392?s=21

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