BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A Billings contractor has been sentenced to two years in prison after a jury convicted him of bribing Chippewa Cree tribal officials for federally funded construction contracts.
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris sentenced Kevin McGovern in Great Falls on Thursday. A jury previously found McGovern and his company, CMG Construction, guilty of bribery and conspiracy to defraud the tribe and federal government.
Morris also ordered McGovern and his company to pay $4.5 million in fines and restitution.
Federal prosecutors say McGovern paid kickbacks to tribal officials to get preferential treatment for $2.5 million in contracts.
McGovern was charged in the scheme along with former tribal officials Tony Belcourt and Chance Houle and James Howard Eastlick, Jr., a business partner of Belcourt’s. The other three men were all convicted and sentenced to prison.
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