A former employee of the Oglala Sioux Tribe has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison for her role in a multimillion-dollar fraud and money laundering scheme.
Fifty-seven-year-old Buffy Redfish of Rushville, Nebraska, was sentenced June 29 to six years and six months in federal prison after being convicted of four counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. Following her prison term, she will serve three years of supervised release and has been ordered to pay more than 4.7 million dollars in restitution.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for South Dakota, Redfish worked for the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Tribal Employment Rights Office, or TERO, from 2006 through 2024. The office oversees tribal hiring preferences and collects employment-related fees from contractors doing business on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Federal prosecutors say Redfish was responsible for collecting TERO fee checks and forwarding them to the tribe’s revenue department. Between November 2017 and May 2024, authorities say she and co-defendant Patrick Ross diverted more than 4-point-7 million dollars in checks belonging to the tribe.
Investigators say the pair deposited the funds into Ross’s bank account and then split the money, using it to purchase homes, vehicles and other personal items.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Patterson prosecuted the case.
