NEW TOWN – A lawsuit filed against the Three Affiliated Tribes’ business council over alleged financial mismanagement is asking a judge to order the council to sell the Las Vegas property purchased by the tribe last year.

Six members of the Three Affiliated Tribe filed a lawsuit Sept. 5 in tribal court that alleges violations of the tribal constitution related to handling of finances. The complaint asks the judge to order the council to comply with the constitution.

“We are not asking for anything that’s not already owed and due us. If the council was following the constitution, we wouldn’t even be filing this type of lawsuit,” plaintiff Carol Good Bear said.

Good Bear is joined in the lawsuit by Terrance Federicks, Todd Hall, Patti Jo Hall, Kelly Hosie and Edward “Tyke” Danks. Named as defendants are Chairman Mark Fox and other officers and members of the council: Vice Chairman Cory Spotted Bear, Treasurer Mervin Packineau, Secretary Fred Fox, Robert White, Sherry Turner-Lone Fight and Monica Mayer.

A request for comment Wednesday was directed to the tribe’s legal counsel, who hadn’t responded by presstime.

The lawsuit seeks financial transparency by the tribe, Good Bear said. Tribal members are able to view audits of the federal portion of tribal revenue but aren’t able to access information about income and spending of tribal funds, which have increased significantly since the start of the oil boom around 2006, she said.

“We don’t know where that money is, where it’s going, how much came in,” she said.

Good Bear said meetings of the council aren’t always posted or members will make decisions outside of official meetings that are formalized at meetings through resolutions whose content is obscured to the public.

Specifically, the complaint alleges council members violated the constitution through “engagement in and ratification of executive committee actions for expenditures” and by “blanket ratification of any unilateral ‘Executive Actions’ by Chairman Fox.” It alleges the council disbursed about $93.29 million to buy a Las Vegas property and $10.3 million to buy additional Las Vegas property without passing the resolutions required by the constitution.

Tribal members were caught by surprise to learn of the tribe’s purchase of land in Las Vegas last year, Good Bear said. A large amount of tribal money was spent with no notice or community meetings for input, she said.

“Since 2010 forward, we have been in the dark,” Good Bear said.

Plaintiffs are asking the court to order the council to sell the Las Vegas property purchased last December and return the money to the People’s Fund and to refrain from buying additional Las Vegas property until a resolution is passed authorizing the spending.

They are asking the judge to order the council and Packineau, as treasurer, to account for and pay any rightful distributions to tribal members from the People’s Fund. The amount of those rightful distributions would need to be determined within a “reasonable” time.

The council also must provide a full list of accounts with detailed statements and conduct audits for all years in which audits haven’t been performed, plaintiffs argue.

Additionally, plaintiffs are asking for a neutral third-party to oversee the referendum process.

Good Bear said the council has been rejecting petitions from tribal members for constitutional changes despite petitioner claims that the documents were properly filed with adequate signatures.

The complaint also alleges Executive Secretary Fred Fox failed to provide plaintiffs Fredericks and Good Bear with information required to collect signatures from qualified voters on petitions, violating the constitution and disenfranchising tribal members. The complaint asks the court to order the secretary to produce a complete and accurate roll of all tribal members.