MHA Nation (Three Affiliated Tribes) — Fort Berthold Indian Reservation
Outcome
Two elected MHA Nation Tribal Business Council representatives — Randall Judge Phelan (5 years prison, $645,000 in bribes) and Frank Charles Grady (6 years 3 months, $260,000 in bribes) — were convicted and sentenced for accepting bribes and kickbacks from a construction contractor operating on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in exchange for fabricating bids and awarding contracts.
Details
MHA Nation (Three Affiliated Tribes) — Fort Berthold Bribery Scheme (2013–2020)
Outcome: Two elected MHA Nation (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation) Tribal Business Council members were convicted and sentenced for accepting combined bribes of more than $905,000 from a construction contractor in exchange for steering reservation construction contracts and fabricating competitive bids.
Randall Judge Phelan, 58, of Mandaree, North Dakota, was an elected representative on the Tribal Business Council from 2013 to 2020. Beginning around 2013 and continuing through 2020, Phelan solicited and accepted bribes and kickbacks totaling more than $645,000 from a contractor operating on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. In exchange for the payments, Phelan used his official position to help the contractor's business by awarding contracts and fabricating bids during purportedly competitive bidding processes. Phelan pleaded guilty in October 2022 and was sentenced to five years in federal prison.
Frank Charles Grady, 54, of Billings, Montana, was an elected representative on the Tribal Business Council from November 2014 through November 2018. From approximately 2016 through 2017, Grady solicited and accepted bribes and kickbacks totaling more than $260,000 from the same contractor. Grady was sentenced to six years and three months in prison.
An additional project manager, Delvin Reeves, who was appointed to the reservation, pleaded guilty to bribery and was sentenced to approximately five years. Contractor Francisco Javier Solis Chacon was also convicted and sentenced.
Primary Source: Former Tribal Official Sentenced for Bribery Scheme
How Crucible Prevents This
Both Phelan and Grady used their positions on the Tribal Business Council to fabricate bids during competitive bidding processes — a specific form of bid-rigging that requires documentation controls to detect. Crucible's competitive bidding integrity hook requires independent verification of all bid submissions, with sealed bids opened simultaneously and documented by a neutral party. A contractor-council-member relationship disclosure control would have flagged any undisclosed financial relationship between Phelan, Grady, and contractors participating in reservation construction bidding. The combined $905,000 in bribery occurred over multiple years, suggesting no regular audit of council member financial disclosures against contractor payment records.
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