The former CEO of a Badger State gaming holding is header to prison for 18 months, according to local word reports. It stems from an alleged misappropriation of more than $72,000 from St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake.

Leva Oustigoff Jr., 60, of Cumberland, Wis., was presumption the doom for tax fraud on Thursday by US District Judge William Conley. The jurist also ordered him to compensate to a greater extent than $40,000 in restitution, WQOW, a local TV station, reported.

Oustigoff pled guilty to taxation dupery inward March, Western District of Wisconsin US Attorney Timothy O’Shea said. Oustigoff failed to describe the income betwixt 2015 and 2018, prosecutors added.

The money was used to redo Oustigoff’s house, as good as for other personal expenses, Madison.com, a regional word site, reported.

Oustigoff was indicted in 2020. There were eighter from Decatur different counts of misapplication against him in the indictment. He had faced upwardly to 160 years in prison, prosecutors said.

The indictment was a outcome of an investigating past the Federal soldier Bureau of Investigation and the IRS. The St. Croix tribe cooperated, federal officials said.

The St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake is operated past the St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin tribe. It is located some 77 miles northeastward of Minneapolis, Minn.

Questionable Expenses

In a prior serial of incidents, the St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin were fined inwards 2020 for alleged misuse of casino funds.

The federation of tribes allegedly used casino cash in hand to compensate over $301,000 to Ernest Orlando Lawrence Larsen between 2015 and 2017 for consulting services on marijuana and related to products. He was paid from money generated at St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake because of the tribe’s interestingness in growing ganja to produce hemp and Cannabidiol (CBD).

Casino finances were also used to pay for Larsen’s first-class flights to Hawaii, Atlanta, and Seattle. Additionally, he was presumption $21,247 inward casino cash in hand for a 4×4 off-road vehicle, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The payments were among those highlighted by the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) inward its Notice of Violation (NOV) dated Apr 11, 2019. The NIGC is a national regulator that monitors tribal gaming.

It claims the money paid to Larsen is among the $1.5 zillion that was spent improperly past the tribe. In 2019, the NIGC sent the federation of tribes a 29-page Notice of Violation (NOV) itemisation 527 infringements of tribal and federal rules.

Initially, St. Croix Chippewa of Wisconsin risked paying upward to $27 billion inwards fines after audits title more than $1.5 trillion of tribal casino money was improperly spent, misaccounted for, or on the face of it used for personal expenses.

Tribe Pays $4.5M

In August 2020, the folk was asked to pay $4.5 jillion inward fines for alleged wrongdoing, according to the NIGC. The fine was lowered past the NIGC from $5.5 zillion because of hardship on the tribe from the coronavirus pandemic.