A Slice of North Carolina’s Casino Profits Go to Political Relatives

A company profiting from North Carolina’s new tribal casino has offered family members of politicians and high-ranking politicians. As supporters of the casino seeking federal approval for the project, according to an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

One of the stakes is John B. Clyburn, the brother of Representative James Clyburn, a powerful Democratic senator from South Carolina introduced legislation in Congress last year that cleared the way for the new Catawba Two Kings casino.

Other controversy went to Michael Haley, husband of former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican who served in the Trump administration as ambassador to the United Nations; Butch Bowers, the attorney who represented both Ms. Haley and former President Donald Trump; and Patti Solis Doyle, a Democratic politician who helped manage the 2008 campaign for Hillary Clinton and then-presidential nominee Joe Biden, according to the document.

The draw, made indirectly by another company, gave each of the recipients a slice of a snowmobile rental company called Kings Mountain Equipment Supply LLC, whose principals include sponsors casinos or their members, according to the document 카지노사이트. The company receives 20 cents on every dollar of profit the casino makes from the hundred slot machines. These amounts are small – well under 1% ownership for each recipient, according to the document. Those involved deny any quid pro quo. Still, ethics lawyers say the arrangement raises questions about the legitimacy of those seeking government assistance in providing financial incentives to relatives of public employees in exchange for is to influence policy.

The casino, which has been considered a long-term plan, will open on a temporary basis in July 2021 after a federal program to help the Catawba Indian Nation, a tribe of about 3,600 members with a 1,000-acre reservation nearby in Rock Hill, SC.

The tribe was banned from offering gambling on its property and tried for nearly a decade to open a casino across the border in North Carolina, where it has no reserves. The Trump administration’s Interior Department initially rejected the Catawba casino project, then approved it in 2020 에볼루션게이밍.

When the bill of Rep. Clyburn became law, upholding the abortion decision, and ending threats from another tribe that once owned North Carolina’s only casinos .

The Catawba project in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, is a differentiator among Indian casinos, said Steven Light, an expert on tribal gaming at the University of North Dakota, “in the degree of political involvement, involvement in Congress, the time it took. , and the unusual manner in which the decision of the Department of the Interior was overturned.

John Clyburn, in an interview, said that he considered the project from time to time for ten years and let his supporters know different people. He said he didn’t remember talking to anyone in control of the casino.

“I think I discussed” the project with his brother, John Clyburn, said, adding that he received a license allowing him to acquire a small plant in the company connected to the Catawba casino in early September 2013. . This is one week after the Catawba Tribe asked the federal government to approve the casino operation.

John Clyburn said he was surprised to start receiving checks about a year ago, thinking he received seven or eight checks ranging from $600 to $1,300 each. Rep. Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat, said he did not know about his brother’s financial interests in casinos and that the couple had not discussed a career in gambling, although they talked daily. He said his support of the bill stems from a long-standing interest in helping the Catawba people right a historical injustice. His grandmother was 50% Catawba, he said. If his brother benefits from a bill he helped pass, Rep. Clyburn said: ‘I don’t care. He manages to earn a living. I don’t get his rights, and I don’t give him mine.

Mr. Haley, through the company he owns, is investigating the physical and cybersecurity issues for the Catawba reservation project and the casino in 2018, and the company is being paid for the plant and the casino, a representative of his company said. His wife was a UN ambassador at the time.

Ms. Haley, who opposed the tribe’s efforts to bring gambling to South Carolina when she was governor, attended a casino dress-up event last year. Her office said she did this as a guest of her husband and “refused to participate in any activities related to the event.”

“Amb. Haley does not support casino operations in the Trump administration,” the statement said. The company declined to comment further.

The permanent withdrawal of the casino has been delayed for some time by regulators at the National Indian Gaming Commission, who have raised concerns that outside sponsors are expecting huge profits from the casino. according to those familiar with the matter. Federal law requires that a tribe derive a significant profit from its gambling operations. An NIGC official confirmed the agency has an open investigation but declined to comment.

“To the extent that the NIGC has identified areas of concern, we have made corrections or are now actively working to address those issues,” Catawba Tribe Chairman Bill Harris said in response. Written questions from the Journal. Mr. Harris said most federal officials to move the casino of cases, including “the way” in the public. He said that the casish radio would lead to our poor while he was getting married. “

John Clybur is brief, Mr. Harris, adds that the tribe of the tribe has retained it on the south of South Carolina Democratic Party. “John Clitning is a former political head of his brother since 2004, the federal movie shows. The casino, located about 35 miles west of Charlotte, was full of visitors and doubled its temporary space to 30,000 square feet in December. The developers have plans for a large permanent building with a 29-storey hotel, according to a presentation to the previous western district council. Kings Mountain Equipment Supply, the slots entity, is one of two similar companies created the day after Catawba Casino was approved by the government. The two signed contracts with the tribe to rent slot machines from the casino, with each assigning about half of the casino’s machines, according to documents reviewed by the Journal and a person familiar with the matter. The company has the right to receive 20% of the money that the casino holds when paying the slot players, according to the document and the person familiar with the matter.

The casino now has about 1,000 slot machines. When fully built, it could have up to 5,000, the documents say, meaning payouts to shareholders could increase significantly.

Stakes held by politically connected people have been hidden from public view through multiple layers of corporations and LLCs. Companies controlled by MM. For example, Clyburn and Haley own shares in a company called AGS of North Carolina LLC which itself owns 10.1% in Kings Mountain Equipment Supply, the documents show. “There’s no Clyburn or Haley’s name on the membership roster,” said Martyna Hanusz, who signed documents as a manager of North Carolina’s AGS and several other entities invested in Kings Mountain Equipment. Supply. She declined to comment further. Others with stats on Kings Mountain Equipment Supply, according to a document reviewed by the Journal, include many former North Carolina politicians who support the casino while in office or their relatives. One said his wife invested, while another said he got the share. They refused to deny anything inappropriate.

The Catawba wanted to open a casino, but a 1993 law exempted them from the National Indian Gaming Act, which allows the tribe to open casinos in states like South Carolina that do not allow gambling on the spot. Plans to open a casino in North Carolina, which would require the federal government to take over 17 acres of land in trust for the tribe, began around 2013.

“I was told it was impossible,” said Wallace Cheves, the casino’s outside developer. “A lot of big game companies and tribes think I’m crazy.”

The Interior Department determined in 2018 that it lacked the power to carry out the tribe’s request. Congress became involved after The Catawba resubmitted its application and using a different legal theory.

Mr. Cheves had sat on the National Finance Committee of Senator Graham when he presented himself to the presidency in 2016. The Principate Supporter, said the speaker for Grahlam because it will help the federal government to treat.

When to interact in the country with white chaos and March 2020, the East Barred Deans Cheroluke saved the Koros Cherolina, which has two Carolina. The lawsuit alleges that the casino will be located in the historic Cherokee area and was approved after “backyard business.” The Interior Ministry said in court documents that its decision was legally correct.

In March 2021, representative. Clyburn introduced the Catawba Indian Nation Lands Act which ended this new conflict. The bill passed the House and became part of the $770 billion Defense Authorization Act, an annual item that receives congressional approval. President Biden signed it into law in December 2021.