Wichita ? A federal judge on Friday refused to dismiss charges against the self-proclaimed grand chief of the Kaweah Indian Nation, denying a motion that claimed evidence in the case did not overcome a “good faith” defense that he did not intend to commit any crimes.

“The notion he might have an altruistic motive in doing this is irrelevant,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson told the judge.

U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown denied the defense motion without comment.

Malcolm Webber, 70, is charged in federal court with selling memberships costing $50 to more than $1,000 apiece to legal and illegal immigrants around the country by falsely claiming tribal membership conferred U.S. citizenship and other benefits.

The judge’s ruling came as the prosecution wrapped up its case Friday with the lengthy testimony of its lead case investigator, Roger Visnaw.

The defense is expected to call Webber, the tribe’s grand chief, when trial testimony resumes Tuesday.

The federal government has denied to recognize Webber’s group as an authentic Indian tribe and says Webber – who calls himself Grand Chief Thunderbird IV – has no Indian ancestry.

Webber was indicted on two counts of harboring illegal immigrants, two counts of possession of false documents with intent to defraud the United States, two counts of conspiracy with intent to defraud the United States and one count of mail fraud. The government also is seeking forfeiture of the proceeds from the alleged criminal acts.

Visnaw, a special agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement based in Topeka, told jurors Friday that federal agents seized 65 boxes of evidence during last year’s raid at the tribal headquarters of the Kaweah Indian Nation.

Agents found tribal enrollment rolls with the names of 13,142 people, plus an additional 2,000 to 3,000 applications that had not yet been processed, he said.

Visnaw testified that he has not gone through the entire membership roll, but of the 1,000 tribal memberships that he compared with ICE databases, it appeared only 4 percent to 5 percent were lawful residents or citizens.

The membership applications came from all across the United States, with the majority investigated thus far coming from Kansas and Texas, he said.

Testimony earlier in the trial indicated lawful residents had claimed U.S. citizenship on Social Security and passport applications after Webber allegedly told them that as American Indians, they were U.S. citizens.

A false claim of U.S. citizenship – especially by a lawful resident – is a deportable offense, Visnaw said. It also is grounds for being permanently barred from re-entering the United States.

Among the items seized from Webber’s office was a bank bag containing a stack of money orders totaling $25,887, Visnaw said.

The government also seized about $298,000 from a tribal account. An additional $22,000 was seized after Debra Flynn, the tribe’s secretary of state, who transferred the funds from a second tribal account to her own personal account after the raid.

The government contends the Kaweah is a bogus tribe that is no more than Webber’s invention. Defense attorney Kurt Kerns has argued that just because the Kaweah did not have federal recognition, that did not mean it was not a real Indian tribe.