As a tribe member, Wopsock said all Utes are supposed to be shareholders in the plan to spend the money.

"We don't know what the plan is," he said. "There's no accountability. We're left in the dark."

Wopsock was one of about 20 people who marched Thursday in front of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake City.

The group of Utes protested for several hours, carrying homemade signs saying: "Requesting a Congressional Investigation" and "Fire Ross Swimmer."

Swimmer is a special trustee in the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Special Trustee for American Indians.

Ute Council Chairwoman Maxine Natchees confirmed that last week the tribe received $190 million, which had been under federal control and is now going to be overseen by the tribe. She said the money will be managed by Bear Sterns, a New York City-based company hired by the tribe.

Natchees said she doesn't understand what "plan" protesters want to see.

"The federal government just didn't cut us a check for $190 million," she said Thursday. "It's not like we have access to it."

Natchees said the money is part of a lawsuit settlement the tribe received after developers failed to deliver on promises for the reservation under the Central Utah Project in the early 1960s.

Wopsock, who has always lived on the Ute reservation, said he was stripped of his seat on the tribe's six-member business council about 18 months ago after serving 10 years as an elected member. The reservation, which is made up of 3,200 people, is about a three-hour drive from Salt Lake City in the northeast corner of the state, he said.

Wopsock said many Utes are afraid to speak out against the council in fear of losing their jobs. He is hoping the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs would get involved.

"Someone's got to be responsible for this," he said.

A BIA official in Phoenix referred questions to the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., which did not return phone calls.

jsanchez@sltrib.com