Kevin McGovern, Pay-to-Play Bribery, Montana 2024

GREAT FALLS — A federal jury convicted Billings businessman Kevin McGovern and his company, CMG Construction, in a brazen pay-to-play corruption scheme on the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation. After a four-day trial, the verdict delivered Wednesday found the defendants guilty of Conspiracy, Wire Fraud, and Bribery for funneling nearly $1 million in kickbacks to tribal officials in exchange for lucrative no-bid contracts.

The scheme centered on Tony James Belcourt, who controlled over $85 million in federal funds while serving as CEO of the Chippewa Cree Construction Corporation and a Montana state representative. Belcourt, already serving a 90-month federal prison sentence for accepting bribes, demanded contractors pay him off to secure contracts and payments. McGovern and CMG Construction received preferential treatment by routing $1 million through MT Waterworks, LLC — a shell company that provided Belcourt with unearned income in exchange for influence.

One of the most damning transactions occurred in July 2011, when Belcourt personally drove $200,000 in federal progress payments to McGovern in Billings for work on the reservation. The very next day, McGovern handed Belcourt a $50,000 personal loan — a transaction investigators say was a disguised bribe. McGovern then funneled $25,000 to the Chippewa Cree Events Committee, a known slush fund tied to another convicted tribal councilman.

The jury acquitted McGovern and CMG Construction on one count involving bribery of a different tribal official, but the convictions on the core charges stand. Sentencing is scheduled for February 16, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. before U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris, who presided over the trial.

McGovern isn’t done facing justice. He and his other company, MC Equipment Holdings, LLC, are set for trial on a separate bribery scheme just weeks earlier, on February 3, 2017. The string of prosecutions is part of the U.S. Attorney’s Guardians Project, a federal anti-corruption strike force launched in 2011 to root out fraud in tribal programs and federal grant systems.

‘The community expects that public officials and contractors handle federal funds with great care,’ said U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter. ‘When those lines are blurred, and federal funds are abused in the process, the integrity of the political system is in danger.’ The case was investigated by the Department of Interior OIG, HHS OIG, and IRS Criminal Division, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan Weldon, Bryan Dake, and Tim Racicot.