Cedric Cromwell and an architect hired to manage several construction projects must reimburse the tribe for over $200,000 in legal bills it paid to respond to the government’s bribery investigation, a Boston federal judge said last month.
U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock brushed aside opposition from former Cedric Cromwell and David DeQuattro and held them both liable for restitution to the tribe during an afternoon hearing in his third-floor courtroom. A prosecutor said the government’s calculation of the exact amount, after cuts imposed by the judge, would be filed with the court later. Also, Cromwell will be individually responsible for another unspecified amount of restitution.
Brian Weeden, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council chair, said the requested restitution brings the tribe closer to realizing justice, but no amount of money can make up for damages caused by Cromwell and DeQuattro’s crimes.
“What Cedric and David did eroded the tribe’s trust in our elected officials,” said Weeden.
The Tribe incurred $239,726 in expenses, according to the brief on restitution, during its review and production of records in response to grand jury subpoenas; through legal representation expenses, including attorneys that monitored tribal interests at hearings and the trial.
Prosecutors asked the court to have DeQuattro and Cromwell held equally liable for $249,629 in restitution to the tribe for what it paid to have attorneys help in responding to three grand jury subpoenas as well as assist in trial prep for tribal witnesses.
The defendants' complaints about the restitution request — that the government filed it too late, that it wasn't proportionate to the defendants' criminal culpability, and that it didn't cleanly line up with the restitution statute — wasn't enough to substantially deflate the tribe's bid to recoup its attorney fees.
Judge Woodlock said the use of block billing by the tribe's law firms also wasn't a major concern.
"The short of it is, while in other circumstances I would be looking at this in a much more fine-grained fashion because it would raise red flags about whether or not there is overbilling or billing beyond it is necessary, I don't find it here," Judge Woodlock. "I'm satisfied that this is a matter that was billed properly."
By Brian Dowling
Law 360
