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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2001
www.indiantrust.com
COBELL PLAINTIFFS ASK JUDGE TO TAKE CONTROL
OF INDIVIDUAL INDIAN TRUST,
SEEK CONTEMPT CHARGES AGAINST 39 AT INTERIOR AND JUSTICE
�Dearth of Leadership,� Absence of Integrity and Competence
Mean Further Trust Abuses are Inevitable Without Court Intervention
WASHINGTON, D.C. � Almost two years after a federal judge gave the secretary of
the Interior a last chance to reform the multi-billion dollar Individual Indian
Money trust, Indian plaintiffs today asked the Court to place control of the
deeply troubled trust in the hands of a receiver and sought contempt charges
against 39 officials, including attorneys, at the Interior and Justice
Departments.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton, her senior staff and lawyers �willfully and
repeatedly have misled this Court and in bad faith have failed to take any
meaningful steps to rectify serious and continuing breaches of trust found by
this Court and affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit,� the plaintiffs said in court papers filed in U.S. District Court here.
�Time is of the essence, as plaintiffs continue to suffer ever-mounting
irreparable harm and abuse resulting from defendants� relentless nonfeasance,
misfeasance and malfeasance. The unabated breaches of trust, routine violations
of this Court�s orders, endless broken promises, chronic half-truths, outright
lies to this Court, and the fumbling paralysis of the Interior Secretary and the
Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, and their senior managers, counselors,
and counsel, demonstrate conclusively that they are unfit to serve as delegated
fiduciaries and counsel to the IIM Trust.�
�Given their horrible behavior,� said Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff, �you
have to ask, what is it about the truth that they don�t want us to know.�
Citing a series of investigative reports by a Court Monitor and a Special Master
appointed by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth to assess progress of trust
reform, the plaintiffs also asked the Court to order the government to show
cause why senior Interior and Justice officials, including Norton and former
Interior secretary Bruce Babbitt, should not be held in contempt.
Besides Norton and Babbitt, the court papers named Kevin Gover, former head of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Neal McCaleb, the BIA�s current head; past and
present senior Interior managers John Berry, Robert Lamb, Dom Nessi, Kenneth
Rossman, James Douglas, Daryl White, Terrence Virden, Glenn Schumaker, Chester
Mills, Hilda Manual and Sharon Blackwell; counselors Anne Shields and Michael
Rossetti, and Interior and Justice lawyers John D. Leshy, Interior Solicitor
William Myers, former assistant attorney general Lois J. Schiffer, acting
assistant attorney general John C. Cruden, Edward B. Cohen, James Simon, Peter
Coppleman, Timothy Elliott, Steve Swanson, Edith Blackwell, Sabrina McCarthy,
Phillip A. Brooks, Tom C. Clark, Charles W. Findlay III, David F. Shuey, John S.
Most, David Shilton, John A. Bryson, Michael Carr, K. Jack Haugrud, James A.
Eichner and Sarah D. Himmelhoch.
Babbitt and Gover � together with former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin � were
previously found in contempt by Lamberth for their violations of Court orders to
produce documents in the Cobell case.
�Appointment of a receiver alone will not cure persistent malfeasance,
misfeasance and hapless management of the IIM trust,� the plaintiffs said in
today�s filing. �Ignorance, open hostility and habitual neglect of trust duties
continue to pervade Interior and Justice, soil the integrity of the government�s
fiduciary relationship, and create an unprecedented management crisis.�
In his reports to the judge, the Court Monitor, Joseph S. Kieffer III, has
repeatedly faulted Norton for continuing to rely on the same senior management
and legal team that he blames for the trust�s mismanagement. Kieffer�s latest
report, made public today, implicates Justice Department and Interior lawyers in
the filing of false information with the judge about trust reform progress.
Judge Lamberth ruled on Dec. 21, 1999, that Interior and Treasury were in breach
of their trust obligations to approximately 500,000 individual Indian trust
beneficiaries. The ruling was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 23,
2001. The government�s obligation to the Indian beneficiaries, the Appeals Court
decision said, places a �broad duty� on Interior to maintain accurate records
and account for the money it holds in trust.
�But Secretary Norton � recklessly embracing the deceptive and unsound practices
of her predecessor, Mr. Babbitt � has ignored the instructions of the Court of
Appeals,� the plaintiffs said in court papers. �Under her stewardship, as with
Mr. Babbitt�s, no meaningful progress has been made.�
In its motion for contempt, the plaintiffs asked for confinement of up to 180
days each and both personal and official financial sanctions.
To read the motion, go to www.indiantrust.com.
#####
October 19, 2001
www.indiantrust.com
COBELL PLAINTIFFS ASK JUDGE TO TAKE CONTROL
OF INDIVIDUAL INDIAN TRUST,
SEEK CONTEMPT CHARGES AGAINST 39 AT INTERIOR AND JUSTICE
�Dearth of Leadership,� Absence of Integrity and Competence
Mean Further Trust Abuses are Inevitable Without Court Intervention
WASHINGTON, D.C. � Almost two years after a federal judge gave the secretary of
the Interior a last chance to reform the multi-billion dollar Individual Indian
Money trust, Indian plaintiffs today asked the Court to place control of the
deeply troubled trust in the hands of a receiver and sought contempt charges
against 39 officials, including attorneys, at the Interior and Justice
Departments.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton, her senior staff and lawyers �willfully and
repeatedly have misled this Court and in bad faith have failed to take any
meaningful steps to rectify serious and continuing breaches of trust found by
this Court and affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit,� the plaintiffs said in court papers filed in U.S. District Court here.
�Time is of the essence, as plaintiffs continue to suffer ever-mounting
irreparable harm and abuse resulting from defendants� relentless nonfeasance,
misfeasance and malfeasance. The unabated breaches of trust, routine violations
of this Court�s orders, endless broken promises, chronic half-truths, outright
lies to this Court, and the fumbling paralysis of the Interior Secretary and the
Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, and their senior managers, counselors,
and counsel, demonstrate conclusively that they are unfit to serve as delegated
fiduciaries and counsel to the IIM Trust.�
�Given their horrible behavior,� said Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff, �you
have to ask, what is it about the truth that they don�t want us to know.�
Citing a series of investigative reports by a Court Monitor and a Special Master
appointed by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth to assess progress of trust
reform, the plaintiffs also asked the Court to order the government to show
cause why senior Interior and Justice officials, including Norton and former
Interior secretary Bruce Babbitt, should not be held in contempt.
Besides Norton and Babbitt, the court papers named Kevin Gover, former head of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Neal McCaleb, the BIA�s current head; past and
present senior Interior managers John Berry, Robert Lamb, Dom Nessi, Kenneth
Rossman, James Douglas, Daryl White, Terrence Virden, Glenn Schumaker, Chester
Mills, Hilda Manual and Sharon Blackwell; counselors Anne Shields and Michael
Rossetti, and Interior and Justice lawyers John D. Leshy, Interior Solicitor
William Myers, former assistant attorney general Lois J. Schiffer, acting
assistant attorney general John C. Cruden, Edward B. Cohen, James Simon, Peter
Coppleman, Timothy Elliott, Steve Swanson, Edith Blackwell, Sabrina McCarthy,
Phillip A. Brooks, Tom C. Clark, Charles W. Findlay III, David F. Shuey, John S.
Most, David Shilton, John A. Bryson, Michael Carr, K. Jack Haugrud, James A.
Eichner and Sarah D. Himmelhoch.
Babbitt and Gover � together with former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin � were
previously found in contempt by Lamberth for their violations of Court orders to
produce documents in the Cobell case.
�Appointment of a receiver alone will not cure persistent malfeasance,
misfeasance and hapless management of the IIM trust,� the plaintiffs said in
today�s filing. �Ignorance, open hostility and habitual neglect of trust duties
continue to pervade Interior and Justice, soil the integrity of the government�s
fiduciary relationship, and create an unprecedented management crisis.�
In his reports to the judge, the Court Monitor, Joseph S. Kieffer III, has
repeatedly faulted Norton for continuing to rely on the same senior management
and legal team that he blames for the trust�s mismanagement. Kieffer�s latest
report, made public today, implicates Justice Department and Interior lawyers in
the filing of false information with the judge about trust reform progress.
Judge Lamberth ruled on Dec. 21, 1999, that Interior and Treasury were in breach
of their trust obligations to approximately 500,000 individual Indian trust
beneficiaries. The ruling was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 23,
2001. The government�s obligation to the Indian beneficiaries, the Appeals Court
decision said, places a �broad duty� on Interior to maintain accurate records
and account for the money it holds in trust.
�But Secretary Norton � recklessly embracing the deceptive and unsound practices
of her predecessor, Mr. Babbitt � has ignored the instructions of the Court of
Appeals,� the plaintiffs said in court papers. �Under her stewardship, as with
Mr. Babbitt�s, no meaningful progress has been made.�
In its motion for contempt, the plaintiffs asked for confinement of up to 180
days each and both personal and official financial sanctions.
To read the motion, go to www.indiantrust.com.
#####
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