By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
CHEROKEE, N.C. – On June 3, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Office of Internal Audit and Ethics (OIAE) concluded their investigation of the Qualla Enterprises, LLC. Board of Managers in accordance with Res. 181 (2026), stating, “The committee determined there were three violations of the Code of Ethics by Tagan Crowe and assessed a fine of $250.00. The committee did not find any violations by Morgan Owle-Crisp, Jacob Reed, or Albert Rose.”
Read the full investigation report here.
The allegation stated, “The Board of Managers for Qualla Enterprises, LLC may have violated Cherokee Code Sec. 117-45 Standards of Ethical Conduct if they mishandled confidential information, over-delegated decisions to Sovereign Solutions Carolina LLC [SSC], or committed other malfeasances.”
For the investigation process, the report stated that interviews were conducted between April 21 and May 12 with the following individuals from Qualla Enterprises, LLC.: Morgan Owle-Crisp, Board of Managers; Albert Rose, Board of Managers; Jacob Reed, Board of Managers; Cyrus Rattler, director of finance; Adam Fox, director of information technology; Richard Frias, attorney; Forrest Parker, general manager; Lee Griffin, director of human resources; and Carolyn West, former Board of Managers.
Additionally, the report said, “Relevant information, documents, emails, and correspondences were also reviewed.”
The report includes a chart that lists the board members and their email correspondence:
Reed sent 40 emails externally with attachments, 12 of which were “cleared,” meaning they were sent to EBCI tribal emails, SSC, or “business-related recipients.” 28 emails were not cleared. 15 were sent to Reed’s personal or work email. 13 were sent to a non-Qualla Enterprise email and/or third party.
Crowe sent 12 external emails with attachments. Zero were cleared. All 12 were sent to his personal or work email. Zero were sent to a non-Qualla Enterprise email and/or third party.
Morgan Owle-Crisp sent 10 external emails with attachments. 9 were cleared. 1 was not cleared. 0 were sent to her personal or work email. 1 was sent to a non-Qualla Enterprise email and/or third party.
Albert Rose sent zero emails externally with attachments.
Regarding the board meeting agendas and minutes, the report states, “…The Board’s practice has been to delegate to the Board’s attorney the task of sending out meeting reminders with the agenda and minutes from the prior meeting. Of the reminders we reviewed, the Tribal Council liaison was not included, and it is not known if the liaison was notified by other means. The minutes do not reflect the attendance of the liaison unless the liaison gave a report…The QE Board did maintain agendas and minutes of Board meetings, but there are opportunities for improvement. We made the following observations: the minutes did not record votes, only that the Board approved items; the minutes did not record everyone in attendance and the Board relied on its attorney to maintain the agendas and minutes.”
OIAE said they “did not find sufficient evidence that the QE Board excessively and/or routinely deferred Board decision-making responsibilities to SSC.”
OIAE concluded that Crowe violated Cherokee Code Sections 117-45.3(d), 117-45.3(p), and 117-45.3(q), seemingly in reference to the timeline in the report noting that Crowe attended the Indigenous Cannabis Industry Association (ICIA) conference in Lac Du Flambeau, Wisconsin, and did not communicate to the board that he was attending. The report also states the Crowe was absent from his tribal job on sick leave while attending the conference, and that “employees are expected to use sick leave for legitimate reasons only.”
