Federal prosecutors today announced the arrest of a former El Dorado Hills businessman accused of defrauding Indian tribes with which he had partnered.
Gregory J. Chmielewski, 43, was arrested Oct. 24 in Arizona and arraigned today in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on fraud and money laundering charges. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office said he was being held without bail.
The indictment says Chmielewski set up a company in Roseville called Independent Management Resources to provide low-cost insurance and other services. He partnered with Indian tribes, running the businesses on their behalf.
After getting clients, "Chmielewski then began diverting and misappropriating millions of dollars from (company) accounts for his personal use," the U.S. attorney's office said.
None of the tribes are identified by name in the indictment. But court records in Nevada, where Independent Management filed for bankruptcy in 2008, say his firm owed $7 million to a tribal-owned company called Independent Staffing Solutions. That company was set up by the Fort Independent Indian Reservation in Inyo.
Chmielewski, if convicted, faced up to 30 years in prison.
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