Review found $340,000 in undocumented expenses

Employees at the Coeur d’Alene Casino failed to provide proper documentation for nearly $340,000 charged to company credit cards over a 22-month period ending in June 2005, according to an independent review conducted last year.

Joseph Eve & Co., an accounting firm in Great Falls, scrutinized credit card expenses at the casino at the request of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s council. The review noted that:

•Receipts for travel-related expenses were often missing and included unexplained meal costs for more than one individual.

•The receipts included “unsupported” travel costs to Budapest, Hungary.

•Numerous meals were charged to the casino’s restaurant and buffet, but the receipts did not indicate the business purpose for the meals.

•A significant amount of gasoline was charged to casino credit cards, with some employees filling up two or three times a week.

•Some personal charges were made on casino credits cards, with the casino essentially acting as a lender and recovering the funds through payroll deductions.

•Casino policy requiring receipts within 10 days of the transaction was seldom followed, and the finance department spent lots of time chasing down receipts from casino executives.

Thirty-one casino employees had company-issued credit cards, according to the report. In some cases, receipts were turned in but failed to meet IRS requirements to include a date, time, place, amount and business purpose for the expenses, the report said.

The accounting firm recommended tightening credit card oversight and issuing cards only to employees who need them for travel.

Quanah Spencer, spokesman for the tribal council, said that the audit resulted in improved policies, but he declined to give details. The report was discussed at several of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s general membership meetings last winter, Spencer said.

However, the report became an impetus for CDATimes.com, an online forum that bills itself as a watchdog for tribal government.

David Matheson, who was fired in late May as the casino’s chief executive officer for reasons not disclosed by the tribal council, said his departure was not related to the report’s findings.

After the report was issued in late August of last year, employee credit card use was temporarily suspended while the receipts were recovered, Matheson said. Many of the receipts had been turned in but weren’t properly tracked by the casino’s accounting department, according to Matheson. He blamed the discrepancies on “a breakdown in accounting at a low level.”

Since then, “we found all the receipts for me and for everyone else,” he said.

The report lists Matheson as having one of the highest levels of improperly documented expenses among the casino’s executives, with about $66,000 on Visa and American Express credit cards. Matheson said the receipts were for gaming-related lobbying he did in Washington, D.C., and business trips in conjunction with the casino’s 2003 expansion.

Matheson also said he took a trip to Hungary that was sponsored by the Northwest Area Foundation in St. Paul, Minn. The foundation paid for the trip, but Matheson said he received permission from the tribe’s chairman to upgrade his coach-class airline ticket to first class, an expense that went on his casino credit card.

Jerry Krieg, the casino’s former chief operating officer, had the highest level of improperly documented expenses – more than $100,000, according to the report. Krieg’s credit card expenditures were heavily weighted toward travel and meals, according to information in the report. Matheson said that Krieg also paid for vendor supplies with a credit card during the casino expansion.