Ute leader 'in dark' on finances

FORT DUCHESNE, Uintah County — While the Ute Indian Tribe is enjoying enormous revenues generated through its oil and gas leases, tribe members say they have difficulty getting complete information on their financial holdings.

A Ute tribal leader, Irene Cuch, says she would like to see at least some of the non-proprietary numbers printed on paper and given to tribe members.

Representatives from Bear Stearns and Dolan McEniry Capital Management — the two firms responsible for investing some of the tribe's wealth — spoke recently to tribal members at a quarterly meeting. The only numbers they shared, though, were displayed on an overhead projector, said Cuch.

"They talked about our income and what they are doing, but nothing was provided on the expenditures," said Cuch, who has served multiple terms on the tribe's six-member governing Business Committee. "How much are we spending? How much are the investors making off the income they are providing on our behalf? It makes me wonder how much are we paying off before we get the balance."

Cuch said the investors appear to continue a trend that keeps some tribal members in the dark about income from oil and gas revenue. Also in question is how much of the tribe's money goes directly to the tribe's financial adviser, John Jurrius, and his Jurrius Ogle Group, an array of businesses on the reservation that he started. Jurrius is not a member of any American Indian tribe.

In addition to the oil and gas revenues, the tribe has millions from a 1994 settlement with the federal government over water rights. Congress awarded the Ute Tribe $240 million to settle the tribe's claims of broken promises to build water-storage facilities on their land, and for some of their water, which was diverted to the Wasatch Front as part of the Central Utah Project.

The money was appropriated gradually by Congress, starting in 1995, and was fully funded in 2000. The tribe ended up with about $270 million because of penalties and interest.

The bulk of the money was restricted to funding economic-development projects for the tribe and was held in federal accounts. But Jurrius withdrew $170 million in 2003, and that money is now managed by the private firms.

Cuch said she has discovered that money never went through the tribe's treasury department. According to the Ute Constitution and by-laws, the treasury department must note all money that goes through the tribe.

This isn't the first time Jurrius has been said to have withheld information from tribal leaders. Two members of the Business Committee in a 2003 lawsuit accused him of failing to respond to their financial questions. They found themselves suddenly ousted from their elected positions later that year.