IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ELOUISE PEPION COBELL, et al., ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) Case No. 1:96cv01285(JR) ) KEN SALAZAR, Secretary of the Interior, ) et al., ) ) Defendants. ) __________________________________________) NOTICE OF FILING OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY The Department of the Treasury has prepared its Thirty-Seventh Quarterly Report on Actions Taken By the Department of the Treasury to Retain IIM-Related Documents Necessary For an Accounting and submits it to the Court in accordance with this Court’s Order of December 21, 1999. A copy of the report is attached hereto. Dated: March 4, 2009 Respectfully submitted, MICHAEL F. HERTZ Deputy Assistant Attorney General J. CHRISTOPHER KOHN Director /s/ Robert E. Kirschman, Jr. ROBERT E. KIRSCHMAN, JR. Deputy Director (D.C. Bar No. 406635) JOHN R. KRESSE Trial Attorney Commercial Litigation Branch Civil Division P.O. Box 875, Ben Franklin Station Washington, D.C. 20044-0875 Telephone: (202) 616-0328 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that, on March 4, 2009 the foregoing Notice of Filing of the Thirty-Seventh Quarterly Report for the Department of the Treasury was served by Electronic Case Filing, and on the following who is not registered for Electronic Case Filing, by facsimile: Earl Old Person (Pro se) Blackfeet Tribe P.O. Box 850 Browning, MT 59417 Fax (406) 338-7530 /s/ Kevin P. Kingston Kevin P. Kingston THIRTY-SEVENTH QUARTERLY REPORT ON ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY TO RETAIN IIM-RELATED DOCUMENTS NECESSARY FOR AN ACCOUNTING Cobell v. Salazar March 2, 2009 This is the Thirty-Seventh Quarterly Report filed by the Department of the Treasury (‘Treasury”) pursuant to the Court’s December 21, 1999 Order (“Order”) in the above-captioned case. It covers activities occurring over a three-month period from December 1, 2008 through February 28, 2009. The Order requires Treasury to report on the steps it has taken since the last quarterly report to preserve IIM-related documents. Treasury continues to preserve IIM-related documentation pursuant to the Court’s August 12, 1999 Order, which defines the trust records that Treasury must retain. During the past quarter, Treasury again issued reminders to ensure the retention of required records. The reminders Treasury issued include letters reminding banks (see Attachments A and B), the Secret Service (see Attachment C), the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) (see Attachments D and E), and employees of the Financial Management Service (FMS) and the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) (see Attachments F and G) to continue preserving records related to this litigation. Retention instructions to pertinent Departmental Office (DO) employees continue to be posted on DO’s intranet site (see Attachment H). On Tuesday, December 16, 2008, the Office of Chief Counsel at FMS provided a litigation discussion session to the FMS Executive Board, providing an update to senior officials on litigation and reminding senior officials of the specific document retention requirements that apply to FMS and of the continuing obligation to preserve certain materials. INDEX TO ATTACHMENTS The Department of the Treasury’s Thirty-Seventh Quarterly Report Attachment A. February 19, 2009, letters issued by FMS to Mellon Bank and Bank of America, reminding them to continue preserving all records pertinent to two lockbox accounts used to process IIM deposits (the accounts at both banks are now closed). Attachment B. Example of the February 2009 Business Alert Message issued by FMS to all banks that act as Treasury’s financial agents and February 27, 2009, letter issued by FMS to all banks that formerly acted as Treasury’s financial agents, reminding them to continue to retain, indefinitely, fiscal agency records associated with Interior’s deposits to the Treasury General Account. Attachment C. February 19, 2009, letter issued by FMS, reminding the U.S. Secret Service to continue preserving, until further notice, all Treasury checks that FMS forwards for investigation and related information and records. Attachment D. February 23, 2009, letter from BPD to NARA, reminding NARA to continue the “freeze” on BPD records at Federal Records Centers. Attachment E. February 3, 2009, letter from FMS to NARA, reminding NARA to continue the “freeze” on FMS records at Federal Records Centers. Attachment F. Global e-mail issued February 25, 2009, to all FMS employees, and posted on FMS’ intranet site, reminding employees to continue retaining records related to this litigation indefinitely and to continue utilizing the “Cobell Archive” mailbox to retain all IIM-related e-mail. Attachment G. Global e-mail issued February 25, 2009, to all BPD employees, and posted on BPD’s intranet site, reminding employees to continue preserving IIM-related records indefinitely and sending all IIM-related e-mail to BPD’s dedicated mailbox. Attachment H. Retention instructions to DO employees, posted on DO’s intranet site, including steps for sending e-mail documents to DO’s dedicated “Cobell” mailbox. Attachment A (1 of 2) Attachment A (1 of 2) Attachment A (2 of 2) Attachment A (2 of 2) Attachment B (1 of 2) [Business Alert Message (BAM) for Current TGAs] This is a reminder to continue preserving records in accordance with FMS’ prior instructions to your financial institution. As stated in our initial letter dated July 9, 1999 and each successive reminder letter, including the most recent Broadcast Administrative Message issued in August 2008, due to ongoing litigation, your financial institution must retain, until further notice: Standard Form 215, Standard Form 5515 and any supporting documentation, IN ALL FORMS AND MEDIA, associated with transactions relating to deposits received from the Department of the Interior for credit to the Treasury's General Account (TGA). This includes paper, electronic, microfilm, microfiche, or any other media. If you have not already done so, please designate a point of contact at your financial institution to disseminate these record retention instructions to appropriate personnel at your organization (including records management personnel). Please ensure that an appropriate dissemination and compliance process is in place to ensure these instructions are being followed at your financial institution. If these retention instructions create a problem for your operations, please send your concerns in writing to the Over-the-Counter Revenue Collection Division at 401 14th Street, S.W., Room 307C, Washington, DC 20227. If you have any questions, contact the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis at 1-866-7711842 or Ava Singleton on (202) 874-9986. Attachment B (2 of 2) Attachment C Attachment D Attachment E (Rectangle comment mfineo01 2/26/2009 10:47:13 AM blank) Official business posting from: Matthew Fineout Page 1 of 2 Attachment F Official FMS Business Posting Cobell and Tribal Litigation FMS Retention Requirements To: Office of the Commissioner, Debt Management Services, Federal Finance, Governmentwide Accounting, Information Resources, AC Management, Payment Management, Austin, Birmingham, Kansas City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Contractors Date: 02/25/2009 From: Matthew Fineout Subject: Cobell and Tribal Litigation FMS Retention Requirements A copy of this memorandum is available on the Chief Counsel's Cobell/Tribal Litigation Home Page. Date: February 25, 2009 To: All FMS Employees From: Judy Tillman Commissioner Subject: Cobell and Tribal Litigation – FMS Retention Requirements All FMS employees are again reminded that FMS remains subject to continuing court orders and Treasury directives, requiring us to retain and safeguard all documents, data and tangible things that relate to Individual Indian Money (IIM) and Tribal trust funds and assets, indefinitely. To ensure that we remain in compliance with all court orders and directives, please continue to adhere to the following FMS requirements: Do not destroy any documents, data or tangible things unless you received written approval from the Chief Counsel. This rule applies to all documents, data and tangible things, whether litigation-related or not. Prepare a disposition request, following the instructions contained in the Chief Counsel’s March 7, 2000 memorandum entitled “Process for Obtaining Disposition Approval” (posted on the FMS intranet on the “Cobell/Tribal Litigation” page). The only exception to this rule is for “obvious non-record materials,” as described in the attached “Quick Reference Guide.” Continue copying or forwarding all Cobell-related and Tribal-related e-mail and other electronic documents to their respective dedicated mailboxes (“Cobell Archive@fms” for IIM-related email/ electronic documents and “Tribal Mailbox@fms” for Tribal-related e-mail/electronic documents). To insert a mailbox address on an e-mail, simply type “Cobell” or “Tribal” and press the “Enter” key. You may delete your copy of any e-mail or other electronic document sent to these mailboxes. Promptly forward any voicemail messages that relate to any tribe to FMS’ dedicated “Tribal” voicemail repository. Following are step-by-step instructions for forwarding voicemail messages to the repository: Press “1” after (or while listening to) a new or saved message; Then press “2” to forward with comment; Voice a comment to include (1) the tribe’s name when applicable, e.g., “Message for Tribal mailbox-Crow tribe,” (2) the identity of the caller, (3) the time and date http://intranet.fms.treas.gov/official.nsf/0/2542A16168B30FC1862575680063F044 2/26/2009 (Rectangle comment mfineo01 2/26/2009 10:47:02 AM blank) Official business posting from: Matthew Fineout Page 2 of 2 Attachment F of the message, (4) the duration of the message, and (5) the caller’s extension, and press #; Enter extension 91313, and press #; After the prompts, press #, and then press # again to send (forward). Do not archive (move) data from any FMS electronic production systems that contain litigation-related data, except pursuant to a written preservation proposal that has been approved by the Commissioner’s Office. Please refer to the Deputy Commissioner’s March 24, 2000 memorandum entitled “Maintenance of Data on FMS Systems” (posted on the FMS intranet on the “Cobell/Tribal Litigation” page) for more information about this requirement. Do not attempt to give guidance on record retention matters to Federal Reserve Bank or financial institutions personnel. Please refer all such questions to Rebecca Saltiel at (202) 874-6648. I appreciate your continued compliance with these instructions and encourage you to review the pertinent memoranda posted on the FMS intranet. To locate the memoranda, double click on the icon to launch Internet Explorer. This brings you to the FMS intranet. Under “Hot Topics”, click on “Cobell/Tribal Litigation.” If you have questions or need assistance regarding any of these retention requirements, please do not hesitate to contact Rebecca Saltiel at (202) 874-6648 or Matthew Fineout at (202) 874-6813. Thank you. *** END OF ANNOUNCEMENT *** http://intranet.fms.treas.gov/official.nsf/0/2542A16168B30FC1862575680063F044 2/26/2009 Attachment F Anita D. Shandor/BPD 02/25/2009 01 :25 PM Attachment G To AII- BPD (Business use only!) cc 11M Mailbox@BPD bcc Subject Retention Notice I would like to remind all employees that BPD remains subject to a court order that governs the retention of records relating to the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust fund and IIM trust assets. To ensure compliance with this court order, you should not destroy any documents or data pertaining to the following subjects without written approval from the Chief Counselor his designee: . IIM deposit fund investment records; . IIM accounts and accounts held in trust by the Department of the Interior; . Savings bonds held in trust form of registration by the Department of the Interior; . Correspondence (internal and external) relating to Individual Indian Money; and . Electronic communications, such as e-mails and Internet messages, relating to the subject above, unless those communications have been forwarded to the Cabell mailbox. You should continue to copy or forward all e-mails relating to the IIM trust fund, IIM trust assets, and the Cabell litigation to the dedicated IIM Mailbox. To insert the mailbox address on an e-mail, simply type "IIM Mailbox" and press the "Enter" key. The Federal Reserve Banks have also been instructed not to destroy any fiscal agency records unless they have received specific permission in writing from Treasury authorizing the destruction. Please refer any inquiries from FRB personnel regarding record retention to Jimmy Phillips at (202) 5043683, fax number (202) 504-3630. Don't attempt to give guidance on record retention matters to any FRB employee. I appreciate your continued compliance with these instructions and encourage you to occasionally review the pertinent memoranda and e-mails, which are posted on PD Web under the Office of the Chief Counsel's (OCC) website. Just click on the office link "OCC" and then click on" Cabell v. Salazar, " which appears in the "Litigation" section. Thanks again for the great support you have shown in helping Public Debt comply with a very challenging court order. Anita Attachment H Attachment H Attachment H Attachment H Attachment H