The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has ruled that the federal government owes the Jicarilla Apache Nation more than $21 million because the Bureau of Indian Affairs mismanaged funds it held in trust for the northern New Mexico tribe.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that Judge Francis M. Allegra said in an opinion issued Monday that the BIA "grossly mismanaged the Nation's funds . thereby breaching its fiduciary obligations to the Nation."
The amount awarded represents less than a quarter of the $103.8 million the tribe felt it was owed.
From February 1974 to September 1992 the BIA held funds in trust for Jicarilla and was primarily responsible for managing those funds
The tribe sued the federal government in 2002, claiming the BIA had mismanaged those funds.
Information from: Albuquerque Journal.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.