Cedric Cromwell, Filing False Tax Return, Massachusetts 2023

BOSTON – A federal grand jury in Boston returned a superseding indictment yesterday charging Cedric Cromwell, 55, of Attleboro, the former Chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, with filing false tax returns.

Cromwell was charged in the superseding indictment with four counts of filing a false tax return. This is in addition to the bribery scheme involving the Tribe’s plans to build a resort and casino in Taunton, for which he and David DeQuattro were previously indicted.

Cromwell allegedly failed to report bribes that he received from DeQuattro’s company, through DeQuattro, in connection with that company’s contract to serve as the Tribe’s “owner’s representative” for the casino project. He also failed to report payments for consulting services that he performed for a company that developed and supplied forest carbon offsets.

The superseding indictment alleges that Cromwell failed to report $39,000 in 2014; $57,374 in 2015; $26,884 in 2016; and $54,134 in 2017, for a total of $177,393.

The charge of filing a false tax return provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of $100,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Christine Wichers of Mendell’s Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston. Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Division; and Ramsey E. Covington, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI in Boston made the announcement.

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