Since the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890. the last of the “Indian Wars”, Native American Nations within the United States have been under the rulership of Washington, D.C. Part of that rulership has included the Governmental holding of Native American funds for their “protection”. Eloise Cobell is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and a founding member and President of the Blackfeet National Bank, located on ancestral land in the state of Montana and a proponent of economic development as a path to financial independence for Native Americans.
In 1996, she initiated Cobell v. Norton, a legal case against against the federal government for an accounting and restitutution of funds held “in trust” for Native Americans. It has now been discovered that massive quantities of Trust records have been destroyed.
In 1996, she initiated Cobell v. Norton, a legal case against against the federal government for an accounting and restitutution of funds held “in trust” for Native Americans. It has now been discovered that massive quantities of Trust records have been destroyed.
This past week, the plaintffs filed the first in a series of bills of particulars against government officials who are the subject of pending contempt charges. The filing seeks to hold former Deputy Solicitor Edward Cohen in criminal contempt for destroying massive quantities of Trust records that U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered produced.
Based upon findings of the Special Master and other evidence, plaintiffs believe that Mr. Cohen knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully destroyed e-mail and other electronic records in violation of Court orders.
Based upon findings of the Special Master and other evidence, plaintiffs believe that Mr. Cohen knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully destroyed e-mail and other electronic records in violation of Court orders.