Choctaws’ bonds get junk rating
Two days after FBI agents raided the casinos at the Pearl River Resort, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the $200 million in securities borrowed by the Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise to junk bonds.
On July 12, dozens of FBI agents descended on the casinos near Philadelphia, taking both documents and hard drives.
How the tribe spends its money is under scrutiny by the FBI, which is investigating the relationship between the tribe and the Atlanta-based Mercury Gaming Group and its marketing arm, the Titan Agency.
Miko Beasley Denson, chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, hired Mercury and raised Mercury CEO Doug Pattison’s pay in February from $60,000 a month to more than $200,000 a month. Denson told The Clarion-Ledger the raise took place because Pattison was helping with the new Bok Homa Casino.
Clarion Ledger
7/31/11
Magnolia Tribune
