EXCLUSIVE: Feds Dump Money Toward Anti-Trump Tribal Government Falling Behind On Taxes

Federal agencies have poured tens of millions of dollars into a Native American tribal government in California that opposes President Donald Trump and whose leaders repeatedly fall behind on taxes, a new report finds.

The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and its members have racked up more than $2.5 million in state and federal tax liens from 1986 to 2024 that have taken as many as nine years to be paid off, according to an American Accountability Foundation (AAF) analysis citing tax records. The report — obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation — calls for Trump to halt funding for the tribe, which challenged the president’s border agenda in 2020 and funded high-profile Democrats such as former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. (RELATED: Foreign Aid Agencies Awarded $27 Million To Group Helping Leftist Protesters Avoid Jail) 

“Tribal leaders are actively leeching off the average American’s dollar while refusing to pay their own taxes, yet somehow have enough funds to buy mega-mansions and sponsor drag shows,” AAF President Tom Jones told the DCNF. “This abominable waste of money must be swiftly stopped.”

Sycuan Tribal Chairman Cody Martinez, who has previously given public statements on behalf of the tribal government, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the DCNF.

Sycuan Report Final by Hudson Crozier

More than $1.3 million in tax liens have been taken out against Michael Michaels, executive vice president of the Sycuan Tribal Development Corporation, between 2006 and 2024, the AAF found. The DCNF could not reach Michaels directly, and his corporation did not respond to multiple inquiries.

Sycuan Tribal Councilmember Jamie LaBrake incurred more than $870,000 in tax liens between 2002 and 2019, the AAF said, citing tax records. Vice Chairman Joshua Muse was issued a $29,254.21 state-level lien and later paid it, according to the report. Muse and LaBrake did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the DCNF.

Michaels had ten tax liens out of 16 for which AAF did not find releases, and LaBrake had two out of 11. The DCNF could not verify whether the liens had been paid. The IRS told the DCNF it would not comment on specific organizations or taxpayers, and the California Franchise Tax Board referred the DCNF to the same public database that AAF used and did not answer whether Michaels and LaBrake had any unpaid liens.

Councilmember William Tucker incurred more than $335,000 in liens since 1997 and paid them within four years, the AAF found. The DCNF could not reach Tucker directly. The Sycuan tribal government itself saw more than $50,000 in federal liens from 1986 to 2014 and later paid them, according to AAF.

The Sycuan tribe has been awarded more than $100 million in federal funding since 2008, with more than half coming from COVID-19 relief and loans that mostly came from former President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, AAF said, citing federal spending records.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded nearly $4 million to the tribe since 2020 for alcohol and substance abuse prevention and to support “health services,” AAF found. Another $49,997 in awards came from the federal government’s Institute for Museum and Library Services from 2012 to 2025, the report said.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs also began distributing part of a $289,058 award in 2025 for the creation of a Sycuan tribal agency to manage utility costs and energy-related needs, according to federal spending records.

The tribe has several upscale properties on its lands, the AAF reported, citing Google Maps images that show swimming pools and relatively large houses. It also profits from properties such as a 12-story hotel and casino resort and a golf course.

The casino hosted a “Drag Brunch Buffet” in June to celebrate LGBTQ “pride” and donated $25,000 to the San Diego Pride Parade in 2023, the AAF report notes.

The Sycuan band helped stymie construction of Trump’s border wall in 202o by engaging in marches and protests at building sites. It was also one of several tribes that sued the Trump administration over the wall in 2020, arguing that it would disturb gravesites. A court ruled against them later that year.

Both Democrats and Republicans have received political donations from the Sycuan tribe, but it supported Harris against Trump to the tune of $53,300 in 2024, campaign spending records show. It has also spent more than $5.4 million on political lobbying in California since 1999 and more than $4.9 million on federal lobbying since 2003, the AAF found.

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