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But Chairman James Billie forged ahead, according to defense attorneys for three former Seminole employees.
By JEFF TESTERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 4, 2002
FORT LAUDERDALE -- In late 1997, the Seminole Tribe considered an enticing offer to set up an Internet gambling site on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts.
An outside consultant said if the tribe invested $4.7-million to start the venture, it could rake in a net profit of as much as $706-million in three years. Every man, woman and child in the tribe would pocket about $280,000.
Then-Seminole Chairman James E. Billie wanted to forge ahead.
Tribal General Counsel Jim Shore urged him to pass on the venture. The tribe already was doing nicely with the bingo, poker and video gambling machines it offered at four casinos around Florida, Shore said. The Internet idea might backfire.
The U.S. attorney in Tampa had just sued the tribe, claiming its gambling machines were illegal. The National Indian Gaming Commission was cranking up an investigation into an illegal contract with the tribe's Hollywood casino manager that would result in a $3.4-million fine. And Congress was considering a bill that would outlaw Internet gambling originating from outside U.S. territories.
"My position was that it was too risky," Shore told a panel of federal jurors Tuesday. "We wanted to be cautious. Otherwise, we could jeopardize what we have and lose everything."
But Billie decided to go ahead with the Internet gambling plan, according to defense attorneys for three former Seminole employees charged with conspiracy to embezzle millions from the tribe.
The defense attorneys claim the three -- Timmy Cox, Dan Wisher and Michael Crumpton -- are loyal workers, not thieves. They said their clients just followed orders from Billie to secretly wire tribal cash first to Belize and then to Nicaragua to establish the gambling site.
Billie led the Seminoles for two decades until being ousted by the tribal council last year.
The U.S. government claims the three defendants siphoned $2.77-million out of the tribe's investment account in the spring of 2000, which they funneled to a shell corporation in Belize called Virtual Data. They then laundered the cash with a series of transactions and covered up the crime with a set of phony invoices.
Cox, Billie's handpicked $170,000-a-year operations officer, arranged for the initial transfer of funds, according to federal indictments unsealed in June. Wisher, a $125,000-a-year computer services expert for the tribe, and Crumpton, a contractor who is Wisher's son-in-law, helped facilitate the wire transfer, according to court papers.
The three are charged with conspiracy, embezzlement, money laundering and making false statements to federal investigators. They face prison terms of 90 to 115 years if convicted on all charges.
Shore's appearance Tuesday as a government witness added to an intriguing subplot surrounding the federal trial.
The Seminole attorney has served as a critical link between the tribe and a federal task force that targeted Billie in an investigation that began more than three years ago. Shore also provided advice to the tribal council that ousted Billie, fired Cox and Wisher and undertook a program of tribal reform last year.
Eleven months ago, Shore, 57, was the target of an assassin who fired three shots through the sliding glass door at the rear of Shore's home in Hollywood. All three shots hit Shore, including one that missed his heart by an inch.
Police have said the shooting was likely connected to the political factionalism that followed the federal investigation and Billie's suspension.
Shore, blind since an auto accident in 1970, arrived at the federal courthouse Tuesday carrying his white cane. He was accompanied by FBI agents who have guarded him around the clock since the Jan. 9 shooting.
On the witness stand, Shore explained why he advised against the Internet gambling idea. He said he had never heard of Virtual Data until it came up in the investigation. After discussion of the St. Kitts plan, he testified, he heard nothing more about any Internet gambling plan in Belize or elsewhere.
That pleased government prosecutors.
But Shore's testimony also pleased the defense. Under cross-examination, the Seminole attorney acknowledged that Billie often undertook quiet business ventures without the consent of the tribal legal department.
Asked if Billie thought he knew more than the lawyers and if he often ignored them to proceed with projects he thought might boost tribal revenues, Shore replied, "That's safe to say."
Shore also testified that elected tribal council members receive annual allocations of $10-million or more that can be used at their discretion. Shore said those allocations are "supposed to benefit" rank-and-file tribal members on each Seminole reservation, but he said the tribal constitution provides no guidance on allocation expenditures.
Under Seminole law, could Billie have used his allocation in a secret plan to set up an off-shore Internet gambling site?
"I suppose he could," Shore said.
But a later witness, former Seminole accounting administrator Bonnie Garris Jirshele, testified that the tribe's operating budget -- which would include allocation monies -- was kept separate from the tribe's investment account.
Prosecutors say Cox and his partners raided the tribe's Raymond James & Associates investment account to embezzle the $2.77-million.
-- Jeff Testerman can be reached at 226-3422 or by e-mail at testerman@sptimes.com .