Former tribal chairman Billy Cypress owes almost $3 million from after spending Miccosukee credit cards to go on a multi-million dollar three-year spending binge. More than 100 members of the tribe owe just under $26 million to the IRS in unpaid taxes from payments from the casino. The poker-and-slots-rich Micosukees are already embroiled in massive tax trouble. In 2010, the IRS informed the Ricones via a letter that they owed $1,621 with interest, because the tribe had not remitted the taxed winnings in its own filings.

The Ricones have filed their W-2Gs - returns for gambling winnings - as evidence in the court case. And when they won $2,500 that July, the tribe purportedly set aside $700 for Uncle Sam. Kind of makes you wonder: If the Ricones' allegations are true, is the tribe similarly ripping off other winners?Īccording to the suit, the Ricones won $2,961.66 in February 2008, of which the tribe subtracted $829.26 for federal income taxes. They filed suit against the tribe this month. The IRS says the tribe never paid the taxes from their bingo winnings - and now the couple owes back taxes with interest.

When the tribe paid them their winnings, they remitted $1,500 for taxes, just like an employer does.īut the Ricones claim they got a nasty surprise two years after filing their 2008 return. In two trips that year, they won just under $5,500. Miami husband-and-wife John Ricone and Francys Tolon-Ricone were apparently wielding a hot blotter when they played bingo at the Miccosukee Resort & Gaming Indian casino in 2008.

Miccosukee casino bingo