Companies set up by members of a self-described and state-recognized Creek Indian tribe in Alabama have received more than $240 million in federal minority-business contracts, despite a determination by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs that there is no credible evidence the group has Native American ancestry, a Los Angeles Times investigation has found.

Federal contracts worth an additional $273 million have gone to two companies run by a member of a different Native American group in Alabama with no federal recognition as a tribe.

The ability of company owners with questionable Native American identity to obtain more than half a billion dollars in taxpayer funded minority-business contracts reflects a nationwide failure by agencies overseeing programs set up decades ago to help socially and economically disadvantaged minority groups.

Including the Alabama outlays, The Times has found more than $800 million in federal contracts awarded to companies whose owners made unsubstantiated claims to be Native American, although the total is almost certainly higher. The contracts were for construction, computing and other projects in 27 states, including California.

Federally recognized Native American tribes, and other racial and ethnic minorities are the losers.

A Times analysis of Small Business Administration contracts found Native American companies are often overrepresented compared with other minority groups. But the disparity is particularly stark in Alabama, where Native Americans comprise less than 1% of the state’s population but Native American businesses were awarded more than $2 billion through the SBA’s minority program since late 2007.

By comparison, while African Americans make up 26% of the state’s population, black businesses in Alabama received about $827 million in minority business contracts, the records show. Black business owners in Alabama say they struggle to compete against Native American companies, and suspect many are owned by whites.

California and five other states have moved to strip minority status from companies examined in The Times’ earlier reports on the contracting programs.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Transportation has called for a nationwide review of Native American contractors to ensure the owners are members of recognized tribes, and the Small Business Administration’s inspector general has begun an audit of SBA certifications of Native American contractors.

Each year, the federal government reserves 5% of its multibillion-dollar contracting budget for businesses owned by eligible minorities, including U.S. citizens who are Asian, black, Latino or Native American. But the program’s process for vetting applicants is seriously flawed, The Times’ investigation showed.

One major problem is that the SBA considers business owners to be legitimate Native Americans if they belong to a tribe recognized by either the federal government or a state. Many Native Americans have long opposed allowing states to recognize tribes, arguing that the federal government should make the decision because states often fail to properly screen groups.

Alabama has recognized nine tribes, but only one — the Poarch Band of Creek Indians — is recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is part of the U.S. Interior Department.

Members of federally recognized tribes in other states have criticized the claims of the other eight, including the Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe and the Echota Cherokee Tribe.

“They found a loophole,” Brenda Golden, an attorney and citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe, said of the Alabama groups. “They’re profiting off the misery of our ancestors.”

Among the beneficiaries of the SBA’s rule in Alabama are Aetos Systems Inc. and its joint venture, Aerie Aerospace. They won contracts worth a total of $273 million, The Times’ analysis found.

The owner of both companies, Donna Coleman, qualified for the federal minority business program by claiming membership in the Echota Cherokee Tribe, according to SBA records.

At the request of The Times, Gene Norris, the lead genealogist at the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Heritage Center, examined records for Coleman’s family and concluded she “has no documentable Cherokee ancestors.” The records showed her ancestors were white, he said.

Shortly after this article was published online, Coleman sent The Times an email saying she has “proper documentation that links my qualified percentage of Cherokee heritage to the Dawes Rolls,” which are the documents used to confirm Cherokee citizenship. She did not immediately provide further information or documents.

The Echota Cherokee Tribe says their ancestors fled to avoid the infamous “Trail of Tears” — the 19th century forced removal of American Indians to what is today Oklahoma — and then blended in with white communities, according to the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission’s website.

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The tribal chief did not respond to requests for comment.

In the case of the Ma-Chis, the SBA began certifying the group’s companies in 2005 because Alabama had formally recognized it as a tribe in 1985. The companies have been awarded more than $240 million in contracts.

SBA officials would not say if they were aware that the Bureau of Indian Affairs had concluded in 1987 there was no credible evidence that the Ma-Chis’ ancestors were Native American. In a statement, the SBA said the Ma-Chis continue to qualify for minority contracts under its regulations because of its state recognition in Alabama.

Nancy Carnley, the vice chief of the Ma-Chis, said the group was unfairly denied federal recognition.

“You need to look how corrupt federal recognition is … how demonic it is,” Carnley said in a brief phone interview before hanging up. She didn’t respond to emailed questions from The Times.

Carnley serves on the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission, which decides which tribes receive state recognition.

Alabama has seen its Native American population surge, part of a cultural phenomenon that began in the 1960s as hundreds of groups across the country — some with legitimate Native American ancestry, some not — emerged to claim indigenous roots. In some cases, whites genuinely believe they have Native American heritage based on family lore.

From 1970 to 1980, the number of self-identified Native Americans in Alabama tripled from about 2,400 to nearly 7,600, according to U.S. census figures.

A 1976 letter from a Creek Indian in Oklahoma to the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper condemned Alabama’s newly self-discovered Creeks as “plastic, show-and-tell whites who attire themselves in outlandish costumes and parade before the public .… It is truly sad that Alabamians are being fooled by these imitation Indians.”

By the early-1980s, self-described tribes were clamoring for state recognition.

At the time, Eddie Tullis — then chairman of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians — called for a strict vetting of the new groups and expressed doubts about their claims.

Nevertheless, state legislators relaxed the rules regarding which tribes were eligible for state recognition, Tullis said in an interview with The Times.

He said his fears had come to pass in Alabama “more than any other state that I know.”

In 1985, state lawmakers approved a bill formally recognizing the Ma-Chis as a tribe and giving them a seat on the Alabama Indian Affairs Commission, legislative archives show. It’s unclear what vetting, if any, was conducted by the Legislature.

Patricia Davis, the lawmaker who introduced the bill, was later convicted of selling votes for cash in an unrelated matter. She did not return calls for comment.

Since the 1980s, seven of the nine groups recognized as tribes by Alabama have filed paperwork saying they intend to seek federal recognition. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has made determinations for three, approving one and denying two, including the Ma-Chis. It has not ruled on the Echota Cherokee Tribe.

Applications submitted to the Interior Department’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment are vetted by researchers with expertise on tribal history, genealogy and anthropology. To earn recognition, a tribe must have documented Native American ancestry and show it has continually existed as a distinct community of American Indians.

Although they were previously unknown, the Ma-Chis insisted they were genuine — but had concealed their tribal heritage for generations because of fear of persecution.

In the 1830s, the Ma-Chis fled white mobs and found refuge in a cold, damp cave, the group’s leaders claimed, citing oral tradition. As the tale goes, the Ma-Chis eventually emerged from their hiding place and blended into the backcountry towns by pretending to be white, keeping their identities secret.

But the federal researchers who studied the Ma-Chis’ application found numerous problems with their Creek Indian origin claims, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ final report published in 1987.

The cave story was dubious, rooted in local folklore about Indians and outlaws, the report said. Many of the Ma-Chis’ ancestors, including those of the current chief, were living in other parts of Alabama and neighboring Georgia around the time the tribe allegedly was hiding in the cave.

Two records that documented Ma-Chis ancestors as “Indian” had been altered, the federal researchers concluded. The documents originally said they were white. The report doesn’t say when the records were changed.

There was no evidence that Ma-Chis, the tribe’s legendary patriarch, ever existed, the researchers concluded. The group’s traditional songs were not Native American but white Southern hymns, the report said.

At best, the federal experts said, about a fourth of the group’s members might have a 1900-era ancestor who was possibly the great-great-granddaughter of a woman “said to be” the sister of a half-Creek man. But more research would be necessary.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs denied the Ma-Chis’ petition for federal recognition.

Testifying to Congress in 2007, the group’s current chief, Carnley’s brother James Wright, complained that the Ma-Chis were penalized because their ancestors had to deny their heritage and hide in “forested lands, swamps” and “caves.”

Despite the federal-level denial, the SBA approved Ma-Chis Lower Creek Indian Tribe Enterprises Inc. as a tribally owned company in 2005 based on its recognition by the state, and Wright was appointed as president and chief executive, federal and state records show. Since then, the SBA has also certified at least two other Ma-Chis companies as tribally owned, according to the records.

Tribally owned businesses enjoy a special status that exempts them from contract limits imposed on other companies in the program. The designation is meant to help tribes reap a financial windfall that would benefit their members.

The contracts awarded to the Ma-Chis’ firms include $6.6 million to construct offices in Pensacola, Fla., for the U.S. Public Building Service, $4.7 million for computer system development for the Department of Defense and $4.1 million for construction of an operations complex for the U.S. Army in Tuscaloosa, Ala., federal contracting records show.

Nadine Schloemer, an official with the Ma-Chis companies, said the tribe uses the money to help members with a food bank, air conditioning installations and computers for college students who can’t afford them, among other things.

She said she grew up looking at old photos of great-great-grandparents who were said to be Creek. She wasn’t sure if her family’s hunting and farming traditions came from Native American or white ancestors.

“At this point, we really don’t know, do we?” she said.

California U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Montebello), who led a House Small Business subcommittee oversight hearing in October that addressed earlier findings by The Times, has asked the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to audit how the SBA vets contractors whose owners claim to be Native American.

The Ma-Chis, she said, represent “the most egregious” example yet of the SBA’s failure to bar businesses with dubious claims to being Native American-owned.

“That is not right, and we have to determine what has been going wrong with the process,” she said.

Times staff writer Anthony Pesce and special correspondent Chip Brownlee contributed to this report.

THE FULL SERIES

Claiming to be Cherokee, contractors with white ancestry got $300 million

Native American minority contracts are under scrutiny as officials vow strict enforcement

House panel to vet minority contracting program after Times investigation into ‘Cherokee’ claims

Minority contracting program plagued by lax oversight, government watchdog says

He claimed Chumash ancestry and raised millions. But experts say he’s not Chumash

Two tribes aren’t recognized federally. Yet members won $500 million in minority contracts

PERTH, Australia — 

Australia deployed military ships and aircraft Wednesday to help communities ravaged by apocalyptic wildfires that have left at least 17 people dead nationwide and sent thousands of residents and tourists fleeing to the shoreline.

Navy ships and military aircraft were bringing water, food and fuel to towns where supplies were depleted and roads were cut off by the fires. Authorities confirmed three bodies were found Wednesday at Lake Conjola on the south coast of New South Wales, bringing the death toll in the state to 15.

More than 175 homes have been destroyed in the region.

On Tuesday morning, 4,000 people in the coastal town of Mallacoota fled to the shore as winds pushed a fire toward their homes under a sky darkened by smoke and turned blood-red by flames. Stranded residents and vacationers slept in their cars, and gas stations and surf clubs transformed into evacuation areas. Dozens of homes burned before winds changed direction late Tuesday, sparing the rest of the town.

Victoria Emergency Commissioner Andrew Crisp told reporters the Australian Defense Force was moving naval assets to Mallacoota on a supply mission that would last two weeks and helicopters would also fly in more firefighters since roads were inaccessible.

Conditions cooled Wednesday, but the fire danger remained very high across the state, where four people are missing.

“We have three months of hot weather to come. We do have a dynamic and a dangerous fire situation across the state,” Crisp said.

In the New South Wales town of Conjola Park, 89 properties were confirmed destroyed and cars were melted by Tuesday’s fires. More than 100 fires were still burning in the state Wednesday, though none were at an emergency level. Seven people have died this week, including a volunteer firefighter, a man found in a charred car and a father and son who died in their house.

Firefighting crews took advantage of easing conditions Wednesday to restore power to crucial infrastructure and conduct some back burning, before conditions were expected to deteriorate Saturday as high temperatures and strong winds return.

“There is every potential that the conditions on Saturday will be as bad or worse than we saw yesterday,” said Rob Rogers, deputy commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

The early and devastating start to Australia’s summer wildfires has led authorities to rate this season the worst on record and reignited debate about whether Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government has taken enough action on climate change. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas, but Morrison rejected calls last month to downsize Australia’s lucrative coal industry.

Morrison won a surprise third term in May. Among his government’s pledges was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2030 — a modest figure compared to the center-left opposition Labor party’s pledge of 45%.

The leader of the minor Australian Greens party, Richard Di Natale, demanded a royal commission, the nation’s highest form of inquiry, on the wildfire crisis.

“If he [Morrison] refuses to do so, we will be moving for a parliamentary commission of inquiry with royal commission-like powers as soon as Parliament returns,” Di Natale said in a statement.

About 12.35 million acres of land have burned nationwide over the last few months, with at least 17 people dead and more than 1,000 homes destroyed.

Some communities canceled New Year’s fireworks celebrations, but Sydney’s popular display over its iconic harbor controversially went ahead in front of more than a million revelers. The city was granted an exemption to a total fireworks ban in place there and elsewhere to prevent new wildfires.

Smoke from the wildfires meant Canberra, the nation’s capital, on Wednesday had air quality more than 21 times the hazardous rating to be reportedly the worst in the world.

The smoke has also wafted across the Tasman Sea and into New Zealand.

JAKARTA, Indonesia — 

Severe flooding hit Indonesia’s capital as residents were celebrating the New Year’s, killing at least four people, displacing thousands and forcing the closure of a domestic airport.

Tens of thousands of revelers in Jakarta were soaked by torrential rains as they waited for New Year’s Eve fireworks.

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Agus Wibowo, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said Wednesday that monsoon rains and rising rivers submerged at least 90 neighborhoods.

Wibowo said the dead included a 16-year-old high school student who was electrocuted while more than 19,000 people were in temporary shelters after floodwaters reached up to 10 feet in several places.

Television video and photos released by the agency showed dozens of cars floating in muddy waters while soldiers and rescuers in rubber boats were struggling to evacuate children and the elderly who were holding out on the roofs of their squalid houses.

The floods inundated thousands of homes and buildings in poor and wealthy districts alike, forcing authorities to cut off electricity and water supplies and paralyzing transport networks, Wibowo said.

Polana Pramesti, director general of civil aviation, said the floods also submerged the runway at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusumah domestic airport, prompting authorities to close it and stranding some 19,000 passengers.

Flooding also highlighted Indonesia’s infrastructure problems as it tries to attract foreign investment.

Jakarta is home to 10 million people, or 30 million including those in its greater metropolitan area. It is prone to earthquakes and flooding and is rapidly sinking due to uncontrolled extraction of groundwater. Congestion is also estimated to cost the economy $6.5 billion a year.

President Joko Widodo announced in August that the capital will move to a site in sparsely populated East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, known for rainforests and orangutans.

BERLIN — 

A fire at a zoo in western Germany killed a large number of animals in the early hours of the new year, authorities said. They did not comment on local media reports that the fire was started by celebratory fireworks.

The Krefeld zoo near the Dutch border said the entire ape house burned down and all the animals inside are dead. The dpa news agency, quoting officials, said the dead animals included chimpanzees, orangutans and two gorillas, as well as fruit bats and birds.

The zoo said the nearby Gorilla Garden didn’t go up in flames, however. Gorilla Kidogo and his family are alive, the zoo wrote on Facebook early Wednesday.

“An unfathomable tragedy hit us shortly after midnight.” the zoo said. “Our ape building burned down to the foundation.”

Both the zoo and the city said that they didn’t know the cause of the fire and that police are investigating. Officials would not confirm reports by local media that New Year’s fireworks could have caused the blaze. The zoo will remain closed on Wednesday.

The Parisiens are through to the last 16 of the Champions League and top of Ligue 1 – but there will be some comings and goings at Parc des Princes

With Leonardo back in charge of transfers at Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain seemed to have a more coherent recruitment strategy last summer.

The biggest holes created in the squad by the scattergun approach of previous years were plugged, with their most successful signing undoubtedly Keylor Navas, who has provided the type of insurance in goal that PSG have never previously enjoyed under the QSI reign.

But other summer arrivals have thrived, too. Already there is talk of the club tying down Mauro Icardi to a permanent deal, with the Argentine attacker having scored freely since arriving on loan from Inter, while Idrissa Gueye has also excelled on his return to Ligue 1.

Injuries have prevented Ander Herrera and Abdou Diallo from realising their full potential but there is the expectation that both will ultimately come good in the French capital.

Even if PSG have yet to hit top gear on a prolonged basis, they have negotiated the first part of the season comfortably.

They are seven points clear of Marseille at the top of Ligue 1, while they eased into the knockout stages of the Champions League, where they can look forward to a double header against Borussia Dortmund.

Major surgery, then, is not necessary, but that does not mean that there is no appetite for the kind of tweaks that could bring about improvement.

PSG’s likely January transfer signings

PSG have made it clear that they will not simply sign players for the sake of it in January, with the squad enjoying a fraternity that has been lacking in previous years.

There is plenty of depth in most areas of the pitch and head coach Thomas Tuchel has admitted that there is no urgency to complete deals over the forthcoming window.

“There might be movement, but it’s not necessary,” he said. “I’m very satisfied and very happy with the current squad.

“If players want to leave, we have to talk about it, to discuss it, but it’s not absolutely necessary.”

However, the club have opened talks with Juventus over Emre Can and Mattia De Sciglio, given the interest in adding another central midfielder and right-back to Tuchel’s squad.

Rumours linking PSG with Napoli midfielder Allan refuse to go away, while Brescia prodigy Sandro Tonali is another Serie A playmaker being studied closely in Paris, although the prospects of his relegation-threatened club selling look slim.

The real priority, however, is retaining what they have. That means tying Kylian Mbappe down to a new deal and, with a budget to balance, it’s likely that PSG will set money aside for the France star rather than Can.

Another target will be getting Icardi to commit his future to the club. With eight goals in 10 games, the Argentine has slotted perfectly into the forward line, complementing Mbappe in particular because of his desire to play solely in the box.

PSG’s likely January transfer exits

Several players could move on the course of the winter window.

But before looking at players set to leave, it’s worth clarifying that while Neymar may well depart in the summer, it is unthinkable he will go before then.

Elsewhere, Leandro Paredes stands as an icon to the issues that PSG endured under their previous transfer policy and the Argentina international midfielder – who has never threatened to hold down a regular place since arriving for big money from Zenit a year ago – could well be offloaded if a decent bid is forthcoming. Juventus hold an interest in him.

Another who could be allowed to depart is Belgium international right-back Thomas Meunier, who has failed to consistently impress.

Colin Dagba is nipping at his heels for regular game time, while Thilo Kehrer will be fit for the second half of the season, and if PSG were to sign De Sciglio, it could spell the end for the former Club Brugge man.

Layvin Kurzawa is one of a clutch of players who are out of contract in the summer and, thus, likely to be allowed to go if a suitable offer should arise. Tottenham have been linked with the France international left-back.

Meanwhile, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Edinson Cavani are in similar positions. Cavani may have fallen behind Icardi but retains value in terms of the strength in depth he can provide and is less likely to go.

Finally, Julian Draxler could leave. The Germany midfielder wishes to stay with PSG, but with his contract expiring, his large wage and lack of playing time mean he is surplus to requirements. 

How PSG could line up after the transfer window

With PSG concentrating on what they have, they are unlikely to offer much in the way of change to their starting XI.

Of course, what Tuchel sees as his strongest side will vary from game to game and competition to competition, but they will likely adopt with a 4-3-3 for their biggest clashes.

Icardi will spearhead the attack and be flanked by Neymar and Mbappe, while the midfield will have a familiar look to it, with Marco Verratti and Idrissa Gueye supported by either Marquinhos, the versatile centre-half has often played in midfield, or Herrera if he can regain his fitness.

Incredibly, there may be no place for Angel Di Maria, who has enjoyed an outstanding start to the campaign, though he could be shoehorned into the midfield.

Navas will continue to play behind a back four, though there may be a change on the right, where De Sciglio could come in to replace Meunier. Otherwise, Thiago Silva, who is enjoying another strong season, will continue to anchor things alongside Presnel Kimpembe (or Marquinhos, depending on Herrera), with Juan Bernat at left-back.

There is a sense that while the individuals might not be the most notable, this is the PSG team best equipped to challenge of the Champions League. But we’ve all heard that before and it is up to the squad to show that on the park.