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It turns out that we at the Reporter aren't the only ones interested in the relationship between the Seneca Nation and shadowy Chinese-born billionaire Lim Goh Tong. Now the state's Office of Fiscal Research and Policy Analysis is looking into the matter as well.
Tong, 84, is the man who bankrolled the Pequot Indians' construction of Connecticut's Foxwoods casino. He is also a longtime business partner of G. Michael "Mickey" Brown, who has been hired by the Senecas to oversee the establishment of a casino in Niagara Falls.
Banking sources this week confirmed that Brown has attempted to obtain an unsecured multi-million dollar loan on behalf of the Senecas and speculation is rampant that, once the loan requests are denied, Tong will assume the role of white knight and provide the needed financing.
The Pequots are still paying for Tong's assistance. Under an agreement that lasts through 2016, Tong receives 9.9 percent of Foxwoods' adjusted gross revenue as well as interest on his $60 million loan. That deal was engineered by Brown.
Tong's home base is Malaysia, where he is connected to the country's increasingly radical fundamentalist Islamic government. U.S. intelligence has identified Malaysia as the locale used by Saudi Arabian terrorists to plot and finance last year's terror attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., and the country is among those deemed "terrorist-friendly" by the U.S. State Department.
While Seneca President Cyrus Schindler has been careful to characterize Brown as a "consultant," the shady Connecticut construction firm of C.R. Klewin as a "contractor," and not to mention Tong at all, the ruse is simply to avoid the use of the word "developer," which would come under the scrutiny of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Brown, Klewin and Tong were the pied pipers who led the Pequots down the trail of tears. The tribe's Standard & Poor's bond rating, which had been listed as "A" just a few years earlier, was reduced to BBB by the time of Brown's departure in 1997. And, although Foxwoods was bringing in more than $1 billion a year, the tribe was $1 billion in debt and had to borrow money to make ends meet.
Albany sources this week confirmed that the Office of Fiscal Research and Policy are looking into the Seneca involvement with Brown, Klewin and Tong. We hope the BIA does the same.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | August 27 2002 |