Pt 2
"U.S. District Judge John E. Conway of New Mexico is scheduled to hear arguments in the dispute today at the federal courthouse in
Salt Lake City. Burbank could not be reached for comment. Citibank "owes" $15.7 million: Curtis Richmond claims he has won a $15,739,338 award from WAC against Citibank. The California man, who describes himself as a non-Indian adopted
into the Grayhead tribe, has signed other awards as a WAC arbitrator. Citibank customers have signed their legal rights to him, Richmond explained in a telephone interview from Carlsbad, Calif.,
and the award represents a refund for money lost to fraudulent practices. But the bank claims WAC has been falsely advising Citibank customers that they can avoid paying their credit card debts by
using its arbitration services. Citibank has filed suit in Utah's 3rd District Court against WAC, Richmond and others. Richmond said he will file a complaint against federal judge Conway in connection with Burbank's Uintah County case. Conway is
violating a requirement to have an oath of office on file, Richmond claims.
"I'll be a whistleblower, they can't touch me," Richmond said. "This is war. When a judge acts without jurisdiction, he is guilty of treason."
Richmond also claims the Colorado Supreme Court owes him $90,000 for a WAC award. The Citibank and Burbank lawsuits are just two of several cases
involving WAC and tribal members in several states. Last April, a federal grand jury in Kansas indicted a Newton couple on fraud charges, alleging they had obtained a fraudulent document from the "so-called Western Arbitration Council" awarding them more than $2 million.
"So get lost": One connection between the arbitration council and the tribe is Thomas Smith, listed as chief of the Ministry of Justice and chief tribal judge of the Grayhead Tribe, Wolf Band and
as director of arbitration for WAC. Smith, a Uintah Basin resident, said he helps people litigate
disputes as part of his ministerial services. In all his cases with WAC, Smith said, both sides agreed to
arbitrate, and if one party failed to show up for a hearing, an award was entered by default for the other side. Stevens, the purported tribe's chief in Vernal, also told The Salt Lake Tribune he has done nothing wrong. As for the tribe's opponents in various lawsuits, Stevens said, "They've robbed us of our rights. They are thieves. They are terrorists."
To back up his assertion that his tribe is legitimate Stevens cites federal court cases on tribal law and a letter he sent to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., asking that the Wolf Band logo and seal be registered.
In the Uintah County case, Stevens wrote in a court filing: "Indian tribes and the members of the tribal Government have sovereign immunity, they can extend that to tribal members and to non members working for or in behalf of the tribe and we do not wave that immunity, So get lost."
pmanson@...
Using phony arbitration awards?
Government agencies and private businesses allege Utah-based organizations are using phony arbitration awards to harass officials with liens and lawsuits. The accused organizations:
Wampanoag Nation, Tribe of Grayhead, Wolf Band: The tribe, in existence since at least 2001, elected its council at a Provo Arby's in 2003, according to its records. It claims its members are
American Indians immune to state and federal laws.
Western Arbitration Council: With post office addresses listed in Hanna and Duchesne, its director of arbitration is Uintah Basin resident Thomas Smith, a Grayhead tribal official.
The Order of White Light: Smith, its "presiding patriarch," says he organized the order in 1999. Incorporation papers from 2003 describe it as an "ecclesiastical corporation." WAC is part of the
order, court documents say.
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3537411
