A former employee of Dillingham’s Curyung Tribe is being indicted for embezzlement and fraud in a federal court.
William Corbett, the former finance director of the Curyung Tribal Council, is accused of embezzling more than $94,000 from the Curyung Tribe. He faces 11 felony charges, including embezzlement, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and criminal forfeiture.
Gayla Hoseth, the council’s first chief, said Corbett lied to members in person during the scheme, which allegedly unfolded last winter.
“The Curyung Tribal Council placed Mr. Corbett in a position of the utmost trust and he betrayed that trust. Mr. Corbett came before the council monthly to report on the tribe’s finances when he was actually orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to steal money from the tribes,” Hoseth said.
Corbett served as finance director for the tribe from January 2023 to February 2024, a 13-month tenure that ended abruptly when the embezzlement was discovered. According to the federal charging documents, Corbett was fraudulently acquiring funds from early October until Feb. 21 this year.
Corbett was initially charged this spring in state court. He faced six charges related to the embezzlement of over $80,000 from the council. A federal investigation led to additional charges and the amount of alleged embezzlement was revised to more than $94,000.
Corbett was the only employee responsible for overseeing the tribe’s finances and had full access and authority over the tribe’s financial affairs. Charging documents say he was unlawfully issuing checks from the Curyung Tribal Council’s account payable to himself, by forging the signatures of authorized tribal council members and the tribal administrator.
Hoseth noted that Corbett’s actions had lasting repercussions. She said Corbett jeopardized the tribe’s ability to secure and utilize government funds for essential community resources.
“Even if Mr. Corbett could repay all of the funds that he stole, the reputational harm our tribe will suffer can not be understated,” she said. “The harm from his crimes will follow us long after these charges are resolved and long after the amounts are restored.”
Corbett was released on a $10,000 bail this February and has been awaiting trial. With the new charges, Corbett now faces trials in both state and federal courts.
