 Elouise Cobell, of the Blackfeet
Indian tribe, is the plaintiff in the
Indian Trust Fund case. When the U.S. government took control of Native Americans’ property rights in 1887, Indians were assured they would receive all the income from their land. They never did. According to accounts from whistle-blowers, money belonging to individual Indians was pilfered, skimmed, redirected, or thrown in with general government funds by the U.S. Department of the Interior or its appointed representatives.
In 1996 banker Elouise Cobell filed a class action lawsuit charging the government mismanaged more than $100 billion in oil, timber, grazing and other royalties on land owned by some 500,000 individual Indian beneficiaries. After a trial in June 2008, Judge James Robertson ordered that the government is responsible for about $455 million of missing Native American money. The Native American plaintiffs expressed disappointment at the verdict, which holds the government accountable for only a fraction of the amount descendants claim to be owed, and have not yet said whether they will appeal.
In early December 2009, the government offered and the plaintiffs accepted a settlement in this 13-year-old case. The settlement provides $1.4 billion to be shared among the plaintiffs (yielding just $1000 per plaintiff). The federal government commits another $2 billion to buy up small shares of scattered properties from their current owners. The settlement includes the creation of a "$60 million federal Indian Education Scholarship fund to improve access to higher education for Indian youth, and ... a commitment by the federal government to appoint a commission that will oversee and monitor specific improvements in the Department’s accounting for and management of individual Indian trust accounts and trust assets, going forward.
Read background on the Cobell case
For an example of the continued harm to individuals, see this document.
News About the Settlement:
Indian Country Today: "Obama Administration Moves to Settle Cobell" (12/15/2009)
Specific Improvements in the DOI Management of Trust Assets (12/15/2009)
Cobell v. Salazar Settlement Agreement (12/8/2009, posted 12/15/2009)
Blogging on the Cobell Case (12/11/2009, posted 12/15/2009)
Eloise Cobell's stament on settlement (Dec 8, 2009) (12/8/2009, posted 12/15/2009)
Press release on Cobell v. Salazar settlement (Dec 8, 2009) (12/8/2009, posted 12/15/2009)
Cobell v. Salazar website (12/15/2009)
Department of Interior on the settlement (12/8/2009, posted 12/15/2009)
Congressional Action |
| |
Cobell v. Salazar Settlement Agreement (12/8/2009, posted 12/15/2009) |
| |
Indian Country Today: "Obama Administration Moves to Settle Cobell" (12/15/2009) |
| |
Specific Improvements in the DOI Management of Trust Assets (12/15/2009) |
Past Congressional Action |
| |
Testimony of Elouise C. Cobell, Lead Plaintiff in Cobell v. Kempthorne, SCIA Hearing on Individual Indian Trust Fund Litigation, March 29 2007 (3/29/2007) |
| |
Trust Fund Settlement Should Not be Left to the Fossil Record (11/30/2006, posted 3/9/2007) |
Special FCNL Publications |
| |
Indian Report: Cultural Extermination Then, Extermination of Fiscal Responsibility Now (2004, Winter) (5/14/2008) PDF |
| |
Indian Report: Eliminate Financial Injustice (2005, 2nd Q,) (5/14/2008) PDF |
| |
Indian Report: Indian Trust and the Cobell Lawsuit (2006, 3rd Q.) (5/14/2008) PDF |
FCNL Letters and Statements |
| |
Cobell Trust Fund Case (4/4/2007) |
| |
FCNL's Statement on Removal of Judge Lamberth (7/19/2006) |
| |
Cobell: A Legislative and Judicial Update (5/25/2006) |
| |
FCNL's Letter to the Senate on S. 1439, the "Indian Trust Reform Act" (4/4/2006) |
Background and Analysis |
| |
Press release on Cobell v. Salazar settlement (Dec 8, 2009) (12/8/2009, posted 12/15/2009) |
| |
Cobell v. Salazar website (12/15/2009) |
| |
Department of Interior on the settlement (12/8/2009, posted 12/15/2009) |
| |
Blogging on the Cobell Case (12/11/2009, posted 12/15/2009) |
| |
Eloise Cobell's stament on settlement (Dec 8, 2009) (12/8/2009, posted 12/15/2009) |
| |
Cobell Indian Trust Fund Scandal (3/5/2008) |
| |
The Origins of our Trust Responsibility Towards the Tribes (5/18/2007) |
| |
Chronology of the Department of Interior Trust Scandal (5/18/2005) |
Supplemental Information |
| |
The Elouise Cobell Story (5/25/2008) |
| |
Uncooking the Books: Elouise Cobell on The Fed’s Trust Fund Mess (5/14/2008) |
| |
Cobell will get a price tag (5/5/2008) |
| |
Indian Trust Judge: Ruling Will Include A Dollar Figure (5/1/2008) |
| |
Court ruling comes down hard on US government in Cobell (2/27/2008) |
| |
Judge denies remand for tribal trust lawsuits (1/4/2008, posted 2/27/2008) |
| |
A Chronology of the Cobell Decade (1/31/2007) |
| |
Tribes file tribal class action trust accounting lawsuit (Indianz.com) (1/9/2007) |
| |
Tribes File Tribal Accounts Trust Funds Mismanagement Lawsuit Against Federal Government (Native American Rights Fund) (1/4/2007) |
| |
Cobell v. Norton, ‘A window on the balance of power in Washington’ (1/23/2006) |
| |
Interior's National Business Center is Hacked Again (10/3/2005) |
|
