Image: Late last month, the State of New York froze the Seneca Nation of Indians’ bank accounts, claiming it owed the state $564 million in casino revenues. Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels equated the move to a ransom payment. The tribe agreed to transfer the funds to the state on March 28, two days after a restraining order served by the state froze several of its business bank accounts. The tribe uses those accounts to pay the more than 3,000 employees in its three casinos, as well as to deliver health care and education to the Seneca people. “The Seneca Nation simply could not stand by while New York State intentionally attempted to hold the Seneca people and thousands of Western New Yorkers hostage,” Pagels said at the time. “The State may think it’s appropriate to force an elder to go without their diabetes medication or a family, already dealing with the financial impacts of the pandemic, to go without a paycheck. The Seneca Nation won’t let that happen. We will not let New York State strangle the people of Western New York.” READ MORE Read More: https://nativenewsonline.net/sovereignty/state-of-new-york-freezes-seneca-natio…
