Alaska tribal embezzlement case leads to $125,834 repayment order

What happened

A court in Alaska ordered former Curyung Tribal Council employee William Corbett to pay the Tribe $125,834.58 in restitution on 28 September 2026, following his conviction for embezzlement, fraud and identity theft.

Corbett, 37, of Dillingham, had been sentenced on 17 April 2026 to two years and one day in prison for stealing colleagues’ identities and embezzling more than $98,000. The sentence also included three years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine.

The US Department of Justice’s Alaska prosecutor’s office published details of the case in a statement on 29 September 2026. Its account draws on court documents.

Restitution is a court-ordered payment to compensate a victim, separate from a criminal fine. The department did not explain how the restitution figure was calculated or why it exceeded the stated embezzlement amount.

The background

Curyung Tribal Council, a federally recognised Tribe, hired Corbett as an accountant and IT specialist in February 2023. According to the court documents described by prosecutors, his offences took place between October 2023 and February 2024.

Corbett used several methods to divert money. He wrote unauthorised cheques from tribal accounts to his own accounts, altered colleagues’ payroll documents and deposited their pay cheques into his accounts. He also charged unauthorised personal purchases to the Tribe.

On 10 June 2025, he pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement and theft from an Indian tribal organisation, two counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

The US Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General, Western Region, investigated the case with help from the Dillingham Police Department. Assistant US Attorney Seth Beausang prosecuted it.

The combination of accounting and IT duties is relevant to an assessment of insider risk, but the statement does not identify any technical access Corbett used. It gives no details about software, account permissions or how the misconduct was detected. His IT job title alone does not establish that he compromised a computer system.

The distinction matters when comparing this case with other misuse of workplace access. In an earlier case involving alleged administrator-account misuse and extortion, prosecutors accused an engineer of disrupting his employer’s systems. Here, the documented conduct involved payments, payroll records and purchasing, and Corbett admitted the offences.

What people are saying

US Attorney Michael J. Heyman said the sentence and restitution order demonstrated the consequences of stealing from Alaska’s tribal organisations. He said his office was committed to prosecuting people who sought personal financial gain at the expense of rural communities.

What happens next

The restitution order adds a payment obligation to Corbett’s earlier sentence. The department’s statement does not provide a repayment schedule or say whether any money has already been recovered.

Supervised release means a period of court-imposed supervision after imprisonment. The statement does not give a prison release date or describe the conditions that will apply during Corbett’s three-year supervision period.