Cobell checks expected before Christmas

RAPID CITY— The second round of Cobell settlement checks are expected to be distributed by the end of the year according to the informational website http://www.indiantrust.com/.

“We have received many questions regarding when the Trust Administration checks will be mailed and the effect, if any, of the current government shutdown on those payments. The Special Master, the Honorable Richard Levie (ret.), is in the process of considering requests for reconsideration by those individuals whose claims for

participation in the Trust Administration class were denied,” the website reads.

The Trust Administration class is the second and larger group of those tribal members who have had IIM accounts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. According to a customer service representative working on the suits informational hotline those receiving checks from this part of the settlement should expect to receive somewhere between and 8 and 9 hundred dollars. Many had expected the payouts to be drastically delayed due to the government shutdown however according to the website checks should begin coming out before Christmas.

“We anticipate that process will be completed by the second week of December, 2013. Checks may then be mailed to class members upon court approval. It is our expectation that those checks will be mailed before the end of the year,” the website reads.

For more information on the state of your account or if you are eligible to receive these funds please visit http://www.indiantrust.com or call 1-800-961-6109.