No Evidence Tribal Officials Committed Grant Fraud or Retaliated Against Tribal Employee

The OIG investigated allegations that tribal officials manipulated statistical reports they submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to influence the amount of Federal funding received by the tribe. We also investigated allegations that tribal officials distributed Federal grant funds to ineligible clients, and that they terminated a former employee for notifying the BIA of potential fraudulent activities. We did not substantiate any of the allegations. We confirmed with BIA officials that the statistical reports they received from the tribe were accurate and did not have any effect on Federal funding to the tribe. We did find that tribal officials spent Federal grant funds to pay for a local cultural workshop that included some ineligible participants, however the Tribe subsequently used non-Federal tribal funds to fully reimburse the grant for the cost of the entire workshop. We found the former employee who claimed retaliation was employed in a temporary position which had expired. The tribe did not extend the terms of the position because the employee failed to meet the requirements for the position, and because their services were no longer needed.