Back In 2016, The Dept. Of Justice Sued The Casino Commission After It Refused To Add A.G Walker As Signatory On Credit Card And Bank Accounts

Back in 2016, the Department of Justice ordered Banco Popular, the firm where the Virgin Islands Casino Control Commission (V.I.C.C.C.) has its accounts, to suspend all credit cards and bank accounts belonging to the commission until the Attorney General, as per law, became a signatory on the accounts, according to a letter dated January 2016 from Mr. Walker addressed to the V.I.C.C.C. commissioners.

But Violet Ann Golden, chairperson of the commission, pushed back, forcing the Department of Justice to file suit against V.I.C.C.C. seeking temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and declaratory relief. The motion was denied, the V.I.C.C.C. kept its accounts without the attorney general being a signatory, and the case remains in court as Judge Robert Molloy has not made a final ruling on it.

On Thursday an audit report from the Office of the Inspector General revealed a flabbergasting array of what appeared to be questionable actions by Ms. Golden, whom the audit casts as running the operations of the commission as if she were the sole authority, making major financial transactions with no secondary signatory.

The audit report charges that Ms. Golden processed over $1 million in electronic fund transfers without another employee or Casino Commission member reviewing or authorizing the payments. Ms. Golden also processed $2.6 million in check payments and maintained sole custody of financial records, the report says.

The commission also failed to fully provide supporting documents for its expenditures to justify expenses, and on many occasions it failed to provide requested financial statements, forcing the O.I.G. to obtain these documents from the companies where the expenses were incurred, according to the report.

In his 2016 letter to the commission, Mr. Walker said the accounts “must be modified immediately, and I will endeavor to work earnestly with the V.I.C.C.C. to establish new accounts.”

Citing Virgin Islands Code, Mr. Walker said moving forward the attorney general of the territory must be a signatory on the V.I.C.C.C. accounts. He cited VI Code Title 32, § 514, Section C, which reads, “All monies in the special checking account shall be disbursed by the chairman of the Casino Control Commission and the Attorney General of Virgin Islands, exclusively for expenditures by the Casino Control commission.”

Section A of the same Code chapter established that the commission shall create “a separate special revolving fund, into which shall be deposited all license, registration, permit fees, penalties, and other fees, all sums appropriated thereto by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, and all donations, gifts and bequests.”

“The statute also is clear in its intent, and we all must be mindful that the V.I.C.C.C.’s funds belong to the People of the Virgin Islands, and therefore, we must ensure that any account that is established in the name of the V.I.C.C.C. is done in accordance with the applicable Virgin Islands law,” Mr. Walker wrote.

The A.G. stated that Section 5 14 (c) requires that both the chairman of the V.I.C.C.C. and the attorney general jointly disburse any money from the special checking account that is mandated by the statute.

“No other law in the Virgin Islands allows for the V.I.C.C.C. to open any bank or credit card account without the authorization of the attorney general, or in the name of any person, other than in the names of the chairman of the V.I.C.C.C. and the attorney general,” Mr. Walker wrote.

According to the 2016 letter, as part of the agreement with Banco Popular, funds would have been deposited into the accounts, but no funds would be disbursed until the V.I.C.C.C. chairperson and the attorney general were both signatories on the account. But that never happened.

“To avoid overdraft fees from accruing on outstanding items, I will make myself available to visit a Banco Popular branch, to properly organize the V.I.C.C.C.’s special checking account with the VICCC chairperson, so that we may serve as joint signatories on the special checking account, as contemplated by the Virgin Islands legislature at 32 V.I.C. § 514. I have already spoken to the local vice president of Banco Popular about properly re-establishing the account,” Mr. Walker wrote in 2016, adding, “Since the credit cards currently held by you are connected to the V.I.C.C.C. bank accounts, then I must inform you that all of the V.I.C.C.C.’s credit cards are cancelled and new ones and will not authorized. Please properly dispose of the VICCC credit or debit cards that you possess.”

With the case still active and the release of a scathing audit report now available to the public, it remains to be seen how matters concerning the commission will unfold.