The Indian Trust Settlement arose out of a class-action lawsuit, Cobell v. Salazar, brought by Native American representatives against the federal government. The Indian Trust Settlement resolves claims that the federal government violated its trust duties to individual Indian trust beneficiaries.
Full Answer
How long did it take to settle the Indian trust fund?
Government Settles Indian Trust Fund Suit. After 13 years of litigation and 122 years of waiting, the United States government is finally paying Native Americans for profits earned on 54 million acres of Native land held “in trust” by the federal government since 1887.
What is the total settlement amount for the estate tax case?
This settlement amount totals $3.4 billion dollars and is broken in two parts: $1.5 billion to Historical Class and Trust Administration Class (Trust Class) members and $1.9 billion to buy back small inherited land interest.
How much will the government pay Native Americans in the settlement?
Under the terms of the settlement, the government will set aside $1.4 billion “to compensate [Native landholders] for their historical accounting claims, and to resolve potential claims that prior U.S. officials mismanaged the administration of trust assets.”
How long did defendants hold the 1964 award funds in trust?
Defendants held the 1964 Award funds in trust and in common for Pembina Judgment Fund beneficiaries for at least twenty (20) years until they began to distribute them in 1984.
How much money does a Native American get from the government?
Ever wonder how much assistance the federal government allocates to American Indian tribes and communities each year? It comes to about $20 billion a year, give or take a few hundred million dollars, a document from the Department of the Interior shows.
What was the Salazar settlement?
The case was settled for $3.4 billion in 2009. $1.4 billion was allocated to be paid to the plaintiffs and $2 billion allocated to repurchase fractionated land interests from those distributed under the Dawes Act and to return it to reservations and communal tribal ownership.
What is the Cobell trust settlement?
The Cobell settlement was approved by Congress on November 30, 2010 (Claims Resolution Act of 2010) and signed by President Obama on December 8, 2010. The $3.4 billion Cobell Settlement includes a $1.9 billion Trust Land Consolidation Fund and $1.5 billion in direct payments to class members.
What is the Indian Trust Fund?
The Indian Trust Fund is an account that holds all the moneys collected, received, or held by the Crown for the “use and benefit” of First Nations.
What is an Individual Indian Money account?
An Individual Indian Money (IIM) account is an interest-bearing account managed by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Trust Funds Administration (BTFA) on behalf of an individual who has money or other assets held in trust for them by the Federal government.
How do I find out if I have an IIM account?
How do I know if I have an IIM account? If you aren't sure if you have an IIM account, you can request an IIM ledger report from the Office of the Special Trustee (OST). If you have an account, your IIM ledger report will tell you your balance and any deposits made into the account since it was established.
Who pays Native American tribes?
The U.S. government officially recognizes 574 Indian tribes in the contiguous 48 states and Alaska. These federally recognized tribes are eligible for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, either directly or through contracts, grants, or compacts.
Did the Native Americans sue the government?
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 300,000 Indians, to seek redress for government mismanagement of trust funds through which billions of dollars in Indian money has flowed over the years.
How many American Indians accounts did the Cobell lawsuit ask the federal government to provide accounting for?
300,000 individual IndianThe Native American Rights Fund and private co-counsel filed this class action case in federal district court in Washington, D.C. in 1996 to force the federal government to provide an accounting to approximately 300,000 individual Indian money account holders who have their funds held in trust by the federal government ...
How much money do natives get when they turn 18 in Canada?
Children under the age of 18 will be eligible for a lump-sum payment of $20,000 when they turn 18, or they can choose to receive an annual payment that is adjusted depending on their current age, once they turn 18.
How much money does Canada give natives?
$290 million was allocated directly to First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities and $15 million was allocated to urban and off-reserve Indigenous organizations through a call for requests. On May 21, 2020, $75 million was announced for urban and off-reserve Indigenous organizations, bringing the total to $90 million.
How many generations can claim Indian status?
two consecutive generationsThe ability to transfer Indian status to children was created, as well. After two consecutive generations of parents who do not have Indian status (non-Indians), the third generation is no longer entitled to registration.
Why did the US government break the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty?
The government eventually broke the terms of the treaty following the Black Hills Gold Rush and an expedition into the area by George Armstrong Custer in 1874, and failed to prevent white settlers from moving onto tribal lands. Rising tensions eventually led again to open conflict in the Great Sioux War of 1876.
Which of the following statements is true of the Battle of Wounded Knee II of 1973?
Which of the following statements is true of the Battle of Wounded Knee II of 1973? It involved the occupation of the site of the infamous cavalry assault of 1890. Which of the following statements is true of Native American craftworks? Selling objects as Native American crafts when it is not is a punishable crime.
How much was the settlement for AIG?
Some business reports characterized the settlement as a “pittance,” particularly when compared to the recent $180 billion bailout for insurance giant AIG, noting that “the $3.4 billion [settlement] amounts to roughly a third of Goldman Sachs’s government bailout. It’s little more than one-tenth the loss the government expects to suffer from its AIG bailout.”
How much money will be set aside for Indian scholarships?
According to Interior, up to $60 million will be set aside—“in order to provide owners with an additional incentive to sell their fractionated interests”—for an educational scholarship fund to help American Indian students attend college and vocational school.
How to contact Indian Trust Settlement?
Specific questions about your account, such as how much payments will be, should be directed to your Indian Trust Settlement attorney’s call center: 1-800-961-6109.
Who was the historical class payment mailed to?
Historical Class payments were mailed to Native allotment owners who had at least one cash transaction in their account- cash that may have been paid for a land sale, rent, a right of way, or permit.
Where to send documents to Indian Trust Settlement?
For details on the documents needed in connection with estates, visit www.indiantrust.com or contact the claims administrator by calling 1-800-961-6109; emailing [email protected]; or sending correspondence to Indian Trust Settlement, PO Box 9577, Dublin OH 43017-4877.
What is the settlement amount for IIM?
The settlement provides for a $1.5 billion fund to compensate an estimated 500,000 affected individual trust beneficiaries who have or had IIM accounts or owned trust land, ...
When did the DOI settle the lawsuit?
In late 2010, after nearly 15 years of litigation, the class action litigation initiated by key plaintiff Elouise Cobell v. Salazar against the Department of Interior (DOI) settled for $3.4 billion, and then-President Barack Obama signed legislation authorizing the reimbursement of funds to eligible class members. The final deadline for submitting documentation so that payment can be made has been set by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (the “Court”) as Nov. 27, 2017. Unfortunately, thousands of people who are eligible to receive funds have yet to come forward, others have failed to keep their addresses current with the claims administrator and still others have passed away and their heirs have yet to present a death certificate and/or the necessary documentation to substantiate the right to inherit.
When did Alaska Natives open IIM accounts?
30, 2009, who had an open IIM account anytime between Oct. 25, 1994 and Sept . 30, 2009, and whose account had at least one cash transaction.
What was the purpose of the Doi lawsuit?
The lawsuit aimed to force the federal government to conduct an accurate accounting of IIMs and to reform the recordkeeping system going forward.
How much was the settlement class award in 1964?
The total amount allocated for Settlement Class Members who shared in the 1964 Award is One Million Sixty-Three Thousand Four Hundred Dollars ($1,063,400.00);
What is the Pembina class action settlement?
The Pembina Class Action Settlement Agreement is the result of a lawsuit to redress alleged breaches of trust by the United States Department of the Interior (the “Interior Department”), the United States Department of the Treasury, and the United States of America ...
How much of the Pembina Judgment Fund was distributed in 1971?
The 1971 Distribution Act further provided that one hundred percent (100%) of each of the four Pembina Judgment Fund beneficiaries’ shares of the 1964 Award be distributed by the Interior Department to each individual member determined by the Interior Department to be eligible to share in the distribution of the 1964 Award.
When did the Pembina case settle?
After years of court proceedings and settlement negotiations, in November 2020 , the parties approved a comprehensive settlement that they had reached to resolve and settle all of the claims of the Pembina Judgment Fund Tribal Plaintiffs in the CFC Companion Case and the Individual Plaintiffs in this case.
When was the first Pembina judgment?
The first Judgment Award was in 1964 (the “1964 Award”), and the second was in 1980 (the “1980 Award”). The 1964 Award and the 1980 Award are known as the Pembina Judgment Fund. Defendants are the trustees for the Pembina Judgment Fund, meaning they were responsible for managing those trust funds on behalf of the Pembina Judgment Fund beneficiaries.
Who were the beneficiaries of the 1964 Pembina Judgment Fund?
In 1971, Congress provided for distribution of the 1964 Award among four Pembina Judgment Fund beneficiaries determined by the ICC to be the modern day successors to the historic Pembina Band for purposes of the 1964 Award: 1) the White Earth Band; 2) the Turtle Mountain Band; 3) the Chippewa Cree Tribe; and 4) as a group, individuals called NMLDs, who were determined by the Interior Department to be lineal descendants of the Pembina Band eligible to share in the distribution of the 1964 Award, but who were not members of any of the 1964 Award beneficiary tribes. The 1971 Distribution Act further provided that one hundred percent (100%) of each of the four Pembina Judgment Fund beneficiaries’ shares of the 1964 Award be distributed by the Interior Department to each individual member determined by the Interior Department to be eligible to share in the distribution of the 1964 Award. Defendants held the 1964 Award funds in trust and in common for Pembina Judgment Fund beneficiaries for at least twenty (20) years until they began to distribute them in 1984.
Where was the Pembina Chippewa delegation taken?
Photograph provided by the National Museum of the American Indian. Studio portrait of the Pembina Chippewa Delegation. taken in Washington, D.C. , in 1874. Photograph provided by the National Museum of the American Indian.
What tribes were represented by the Native American Rights Fund?
On June 10, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia finalized the settlement, which was reached in the Court of Federal Claims with the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation of Montana, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana, and the White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians of Minnesota, the Interior Department announced. The tribes were represented by the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), according to the website designated for the lawsuit.
When did Chippewa Indians get audited?
In 1988 , leaders of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Band of Chippewa Indians “were dismayed at the overall lack of money available for distribution” in the per capita distribution, the article said. The tribe then requested an audit from the Interior Department Office of the Inspector General and “also hired independent accountants who confirmed to the tribe that on this issue, ‘you don't need an accounting firm, you need a law firm.’”
How much did the Pembinas pay for land?
In 1905, the Pembinas ceded roughly 10 million acres of land west of the Red River area to the government for a price of 10 cents an acre as part of what is known as the “Ten Cent Treaty,” according to the 1982 report. The report said 8 million acres of the ceded land “extended from the present day north central part of North Dakota to the Canadian border.”
When was the Haaland class action lawsuit filed?
Haaland class action breach of trust lawsuit was filed in 1992. Studio portrait of the Pembina Chippewa Delegation taken in Washington, D.C., in 1874. Photograph provided by the National Museum of the American Indian. (Photo/pembinasettlement.com)
Who is the Chairman of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians?
Get the free daily newsletter today. “It took them way too long and it’s way too little,” said Gerald Gray , Chairman of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The lawsuit has its roots in land ceded by the Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians to the U.S. government in unfair treaties throughout the 19th century.
How many acres were ceded to the Pembinas?
In 1964 and 1980, the Pembinas were awarded additional compensation for the land ceded in the 1863 treaty and more than 8 million acres of the land ceded in the “Ten Cent Treaty,” respectively, according to the lawsuit website and the 1982 report. These funds were put into trust in the Pembina Judgement Fund (PJF).
