He said that, typically, a fund deficit occurs when liabilities exceed assets.
The major issue behind the confrontation on Oct. 9 was a search for audit information. The audits for the hotel-casino for 2012 and 2013 had not been filed with the National Indian Gaming Commission, which demanded them on Oct. 7 under threat of temporary closure on Oct. 27 if the audits were not filed.
The audits were filed Monday. Christinia Thomas, acting chief of staff for the NIGC in Washington, D.C., said the agency is sorting through the tribe's paperwork. Following a staff review, she said, it will go to the commission's general counsel and acting chairman, Jonodev Chaudhuri, who authored the letter closing down the casino.
In the ongoing tribal council battle, O'Neill said, there are no signs pointing to progress being made by the factions — especially the McDonald and Lewis-Ayala groups, whose security forces battled each other nearly three weeks ago. The casino was closed by orders by the state Attorney General and the National Indian Gaming Commission because safety of patrons and employees could not be assured.
O'Neill said he had hoped a settlement conference last week in front of a judge magistrate could find common ground.
James Qaqundah, who represents the Morris Reid group, told the judge that talks among the groups are ongoing, but he said a leadership group needs to be named because the tribe has to interact with other government agencies.
Wednesday's hearing also signaled the re-emergence of a fourth faction representing the original tribal landholders, known as the distributees. They are a group of 46 tribal members and their families, who claim to be the original Chukchansi. They filed a lawsuit seeking recognition as tribal leadership in 2012. It was dismissed in 2013, which led to a February 2013 tribal council takeover led by Ayala against the Lewis group. Gary Montana, their lawyer, said the judge has been "presented with misinformation" about tribal leadership.
The judge's ruling Wednesday backed up the state Attorney General's Office, which filed a request that O'Neill extend the closure until the tribe can ensure that weapons are kept away from the Coarsegold casino and that patrons, employees and tribal members are safe.
At Wednesday's hearing, Lewis-Ayala faction lawyer Rob Rosette described the McDonald group as having "unclean hands," referring to their armed entry into the casino. He said the McDonald faction used their entry to earn legal standing.
During the hearing, the judge referred to a declaration filed by Deputy Attorney General William Torngren indicating that at least one member of the Lewis-Ayala security forces was armed with a gun. Other guns were found on the casino grounds, too, in the possession of the Lewis-Ayala faction's security forces, the declaration said.
The McDonald faction had sole control of the casino for most of 2014 until Aug. 24, when members of the Lewis group entered the casino in the wee hours and holed up in offices and suites in the hotel's 10th and 11th floors. The McDonald group then entered the casino on Oct. 9 in an attempt to gain control of gaming commission offices to unearth audit information.
Rosette told the judge that when financing was restructured two years ago that the financial backers trusted Lewis and Ayala as the leaders of the tribe. He said by keeping the Lewis-Ayala faction in place it would ensure that the casino, as collateral for the $270 million in financing, "stays open and operative." The judge said it was not within his jurisdiction to make a determination on leadership of the tribe.
When operating, the casino generates an average of about $2 million per week in revenues. With Friday the three-week point in the closure, about $6 million in revenues will have been lost.
Rosette suggested that O'Neill issue an order to recognize the "status quo" that existed prior to the McDonald group entering the hotel, which would place the casino-hotel in control of the Lewis-Ayala faction. The judge refused.