The Northern Cheyenne tribal building has been closed since last week.
At the center of the conflict is a disagreement over which tribal council is legitimately in office and which upcoming election will be recognized as valid.
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"I shut this building down because I want some clarification on what direction we're going here," said tribal president Gene Small.
Small says his administration is ready to conduct a tribal council election.
A group of former council members also plans to hold an election.
Small says he is waiting for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to declare which election will be valid.
That former council passed a resolution to strip Small of financial authority and control over key departments, while also scheduling removal hearings, as an ongoing power struggle continues to divide tribal leadership in Lame Deer.
The dispute stems from an audit of federal funds and has produced a cycle of removals and counter-removals of council members, raising concerns about institutional breakdown within the tribe's governing structure.
The divide is over money.
Current and former council members each accuse the other of misusing federal dollars.
"Fraud, waste, and abuse going on here," Small said. "And we've had an investigation, we've had an audit examination. So the evidence is there."
Small points to a report on misuse of federal funds, which involves a forensic financial examination involving millions of dollars.
The results of that audit have brought out public support for Small's administration and the tribal chiefs.
"What they do is they mix it all up," said tribal member Jennifer Small about the former council's actions. "The president was asking where this money went. That's when it all started."
Last year, tribal chiefs removed eight council members over concerns about fraud.
A tribal court has since ruled that those eight ousted members are still the legitimate council, but other tribal members dispute that ruling, arguing the chiefs had the authority to remove them.
"You're going to look for it in the Constitution and you're going to look for it in writing," said Geofredo Little Bird. "But it comes down to one thing. It comes down to one thing and it's verbal."
What could change the course of the crisis is federal intervention.
Small says he has reported the alleged fraud to the FBI and the Office of the Inspector General, but neither agency will confirm an active investigation is underway.
"And we're going to fight for what's right until the FBI comes down here or OIG and says, looks at the stuff and says there's nothing here," said Councilman Robert Simpson.
MTN contacted the former tribal council and was unable to set up interviews.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
