S.D. tribe files trust lawsuit

By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Writer | Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Previous Page

Share

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• NewsVine
• Fark

Print

Email

PIERRE - The Oglala Sioux Tribe has filed a federal lawsuit that seeks to force the U.S. Interior Department to give a full accounting of land and money it is responsible for managing for the tribe.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, alleges that the Interior Department and the U.S. Treasury Department have failed to account for land it holds in trust for the tribe and the money earned from leases and other uses of that land.

"Defendants have kept and continue to keep the Tribe, as the trust beneficiary, uninformed as to the trust property it owns, what income the trust property has produced, and what disposition has been made of the income," according to the lawsuit.

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council recently voted to start the lawsuit. Gary Frischer, a legal consultant involved in the lawsuit, said the Santee Sioux Tribe, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the Omaha Tribe also are pursuing the trust fund issue in court.

A 1996 class-action lawsuit, filed on behalf of more than 300,000 Indians nationwide, also seeks federal accounting for trust funds owed to individual Indians. A federal judge has found that the Interior Department breached its trust responsibility and has ordered the department to tally what the Indians are owed.

The 1996 suit alleges that for more than a century, the government has mismanaged, misplaced or stolen billions of dollars in oil, gas, timber and grazing royalties that the department, by law and treaty, was assigned to manage on the Indians' behalf.

The Oglala Sioux lawsuit seeks the same accounting for land and money held in trust for the tribe itself.

The lawsuit says the extent of the tribe's loss is unknown because federal officials have failed to maintain accurate records, lost or destroyed some records and failed to disclose some information.

Frischer said he cannot estimate the tribe's loss, except to say, "We're in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

Lydia Bear Killer, one of tribal council members who helped lead the effort to file the lawsuit, said the attempt to get a financial accounting started when some tribal members seized the tribal council building in Pine Ridge several years ago.

Tribal members need to know what has happened to land and money that the federal government holds in trust for the tribe, Bear Killer said.

"Hopefully, this is one step that will bring the people back together," she said. "We're concerned a full historical accounting with assets and finances needs to happen for the tribe."

Congress has passed laws in the past two decades requiring the Interior Department to conduct audits and give reports on trust funds, but that accounting has not been done, according to the lawsuit.

The Oglala Sioux lawsuit seeks a court order requiring federal officials to give a full and complete accounting of land and money held in trust for the tribe.

In the nationwide lawsuit dealing with money owed to individual Indians, the Interior Department has said it will take at least five years to account for all the money.