HEADLINES
	Otero to Attend Emory University
	Tribal Council Removes Billie
	Council Meeting: Bank, Consumer Loans for Big Cypress Citizens
	Jr. Cypress Seven Mile Cattle Drive
	Seminole Friends Prepare to Go Overseas
	Tampa Dedicates Seminole Wars Memorial
Get the ENTIRE Seminole Tribune today!

Tribal Council Removes Billie

By Elrod Bowers
HOLLYWOOD — On Mar. 17, the Tribal Council removed James E. Billie from the office of Chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The Council based their decision on “Billie’s admissions of guilt” during a Mar. 13 hearing to answer the Council’s Statement of Charges.
At the Tribal members-only hearing, Billie had stood before Council and a packed auditorium to answer each of the nine charges.
In his opening statement, Billie acknowledged that he had been given an opportunity to view the evidence, but had chosen not to do so.
During the hearing, after each charge was read, Billie was given free rein to answer each charge, with no questioning from the Tribal Council. Several times, Billie asked the Council to detail some of the charges, particularly charges #6 and #9.
During the course of his answers to the charges, Billie either said “I am guilty” or did not deny the charge itself. Billie qualified these responses with his belief that the conduct contained in the charges were done with the Tribe’s best interests in mind.
At the end of the 90-minute hearing, Billie thanked the Council for the opportunity to answer the charges and said that he would accept the Tribal Council’s decision.
At the Mar. 17 special meeting, the Tribal Council announced it had, based upon evidence uncovered during the forensic audit, Billie’s testimony in federal court, and Billie’s statements during the Council hearing, found Billie guilty of all nine charges.
Charge #1- “James E. Billie lied, deceived, and misrepresented crucial information to the Tribal Council and to the members of the Tribe about the Tribe’s investment account. The purpose of such lies and deceit were to justify Mr. Billie’s action in moving the investment savings account from a safe account to a different account.”
In early 2000, two Tribal investment accounts, a $15 million Merrill Lynch and $14.5 million Morgan Stanley account, were transferred to one Raymond James account and placed under the control of former Tribal Executive Administrator Tim Cox.
According to the Council, Billie said the Raymond James account was generating tens of millions of dollars. Ultimately, the financial transfer resulted in losses of over $20 million.
Charge #2- “In sworn testimony given under oath in the case of Unites States of America v. Danny H. Wisher . . . Billie testified on Dec. 16, 2002 that he participated in and authorized the formation of companies outside of the United States for the purpose of establishing a secret, offshore and illegal internet gaming venture and concealed this from the Tribal Council. Billie did this even after receiving prior legal advice that such action could potentially jeopardize the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s existing gaming operations and the future of Tribal dividends.”
The Council found Billie guilty after he admitted to the charge during the Mar. 13 hearing.
Charge #3- “Billie lied to the Tribal Council and to the members of the Tribe in a Hollywood Community Meeting on March 27, 2001, when he said that the Tribe had no financial investment in a hotel in Nicaragua. When in fact Billie had authorized the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars without Tribal Council or Tribal membership knowledge.”
At the hearing, Billie said that, while he did authorize the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Legends hotel, he was unsure if it was before or after the community meeting, and only put in Tribal money because Hard Rock was financially unable to complete construction.
Billie, Cox, Tribal Foreign Affairs Director Calixto Garcia-Velez and then-Controller Hugh Chang-Alloy attended the community meeting, featured in the April 13, 2001 issue of the Tribune.
The topic was an April 6, 2001 Miami Herald article, which reported that the Tribe had invested $10 million into the hotel and restaurant. At the meeting, Billie and Cox stated that while the Tribe had an interest in the hotel and the company “Hard Rock Americas”, there was no Tribal investment.
Charge #4- “Billie deceived and lied to the tribal members and the Tribal Council by participating in the creation of falsified documents to justify the illegal expenditure of millions of dollars.”
The Council found Billie guilty, based upon his testimony in federal trial, in which Billie stated that he asked former Executive Administrator Tim Cox to create and backdate invoices to justify payment of $2.8 million to Virtual Data, Ltd.
Charge #5- “Billie deceived and lied to the Tribal members and the Tribal Council by conspiring with Tim Cox to destroy authentic tribal employment records in order to justify improper payments to a tribal employee.”
In a settlement, detailed in the Sept. 27, 2002 issue of the Tribune, Billie agreed to be “financially accountable” for $169,000 in Tribal funds that were used to pay Tribal employee Christine O’Donnell.
Charge #6- “Billie illegally gave Tim Cox power and authority over money and expenditures that Mr. Billie was not authorized to delegate to this non-Tribal employee.”
The Tribal Council found that, based upon his statements at the Mar. 13 hearing, “Billie does not deny that he gave Cox authority over Tribal monies”.
Charge #7- “Billie stated, under oath, that his allegiance was to his friends and colleagues, Tim Cox and Dan Wisher, and not the Tribe regarding a dispute over the ownership of the Legends Hotel in Nicaragua. The Tribe and Tribal Council fought hard in the Nicaraguan courts to obtain the hotel on which the Tribe had spent so much money. However, James E. Billie admitted in the recent federal trial that he gave his friends, Cox and Wisher, $80,000 to fight the Tribe in court so that they could steal the hotel from the Tribe.”
At the Mar. 13 hearing, Billie said that he gave Tim Cox and Dan Wisher $80,000 to bail out of Nicaraguan jail, not to fight the Tribe in court, as the charge had stated.
However, at the Mar. 17 Council meeting, the transcript of Billie’s federal testimony was read.
The trial transcript confirmed that, under questioning, Billie stated that he gave Cox and Wisher $80,000 in order to fight against the Tribe in court for ownership of the Legends hotel.
Charge #8- “Billie disregarded and ignored the constitutional restraints placed upon him by the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Constitution . . . Under oath, in a federal trial, Billie stated that he regarded the Tribe’s investment account as his money to do with as he pleased. He also admitted at the same trial that he authorized movement of Tribal funds from the safety of their investment accounts to offshore accounts. Further, Billie testified that it was his practice to spend this money without consulting with or advising any other members of the Tribal Council. Billie also stated under oath that he felt totally justified in doing whatever business ventures he decided to do without advising the Tribal Council or the tribal membership.”
The Council ruled that, based upon his statements at the Mar. 13 hearing, Billie “does not deny” that he disregarded and ignored constitutional restraints in regards to the movement of Tribal funds, spending practices and the establishment of business ventures without advising the Tribal Council or its membership.
Charge #9- “Following the enactment of Tribal Resolution C-133-01 which suspended James E. Billie from his position as Chairman of the Tribal Council. James E. Billie defied the mandate of the Tribal Council and wrote to the federal government and to attorneys for the Tribe stating that he was the lawful ruler of the Tribe, and to ignore the directives of the legitimate authority of the Tribal Council.”
During the hearing, Billie asked for more details, and was reminded that he had written a January 2003 letter to National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman Philip Hogen, as well as letters to Tribal attorneys, asserting that he was the lawful ruler of the Tribe.
After the resolution was read, the Tribal Council voted unanimously to remove Billie as Chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.