A Billings, Montana man who once served as a tribal government official for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, or MHA Nation, has been sentenced to six years and three months in prison for his role in a bribery scheme.
The US Department of Justice said in a news release Monday that Frank Charles Grady, 54, was part of a bribery scheme that involved accepting bribes and kickbacks from a contractor providing construction services in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
Court documents show that Grady, in 2016 and 2017, served on the Tribal Business Council of the MHA Nation.
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During that time, Grady sought and accepted more than $260,000 in bribes and kickbacks from a contractor.
In return, Grady would use his elected power to help the contractor by awarding contracts, creating false bids during the competitive bidding process, advocating for the contractor to other tribal members and facilitating the payment of false invoices, said the Justice Department.
Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.
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Grady was one of three tribal officials charged in the July 2020 bribery scheme.
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Also named in the case were Randall Jude Phelan, 55, of Mandaree, North Dakota, and Delvin Reeves, 52, of Watford City, North Dakota.
At the time, Phelan had been a representative on the Tribal Business Council since November 2012, while Reeves was a paid tribal government employee.
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The FBI’s Minnesota field office took the lead in investigating the case against Grady, while attorneys Andrew Tyler and John J. Liolos of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division and Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Greenley for the District of Dakota del Norte prosecuted the case.
