Millionaire lied about leaving Native American tribe his home – but bequeathed $50,000 to his CAT 

A Manhattan millionaire broke his promise to leave his $5 million West Village home to a Native American tribe, but left $50,000 to his cat.

Jean-Louis Goldwater Bourgeois pledged in 2016 to turn over his historic home to the Lenape Indian tribe, the original Native American nation in Manhattan, after saying he was “disgusted” that the property had been “taken over by white people.”

But while the event after his death in December was not mentioned, Bourgeois recalled leaving a huge sum for the care of his favorite feline.

Bourgeois’ U-turn is especially ironic given that she previously campaigned for Native American rights and reportedly spent eight weeks in North Dakota protesting an oil pipeline near an Indian reservation months before offering to return to her hometown. home.

“I am extremely interested in the Lenapes,” he insisted at the time.

Anthony Van Dunk, chief of the Ramapough Indians, part of the Lenape tribe, said

Speaking at the time, Bourgeois told the New York Post: ‘I have a romance with the history of the city, and have generally been appalled that the land the city stands on has been taken over by white people.

This building is the trophy of a grand robbery. I dislike.

He added that he felt compelled to return his Manhattan home after feeling “anger at what white people have done and some guilt, no, a lot of guilt, because I have benefited from this great robbery.” The right thing to do is return it.

The eccentric New Yorker originally thought of returning his home after meeting a man named Joseph Scabby Robe, a Cree Indian from Manitoba, Canada, when they attended an Occupy Wall Street protest in 2011.

“I told Joseph that I would like to return the land to the Lenapes,” Bourgeois later recalled. The house is not important. The important thing is the land on which the house sits.

Robe would go on to introduce Bourgeois to Native American chief Anthony Van Dunk, with the Manhattanite describing their meeting as the chief representing “the tribe, and I represent the whites.”

But three years after offering Van Dunk his spot, the deal fell apart when the two reportedly had a falling out.

Though he never received the hefty sum, the Native American chief took it in stride, even congratulating feline Mali on her huge payday.

‘Well, Mali was well worth $50,000. … He could meow with the best of them,” she said.

‘She was a great cat. She was always there with him, and for him, until the end. She was as much feline company as a cat can be.

Bourgeois’s home in Manhattan’s West Village was purchased for $2.2 million in 2006, before its value skyrocketed to around $5 million today.

The eccentric New Yorker previously campaigned for Native American rights, before going back on his promise to give his home to the Lenape tribe after his recent death.

According to court documents, Bourgeois left the $50,000 to a close friend in Queens to pay for the cat’s care after he left.

The author, who was the son of famed sculptress Louise Bourgois, left the remainder of his $15 million estate to various friends, his adopted son, and his mother’s charity, the Easton Foundation.

Bourgeois also reportedly asked his executors to sell his remaining properties, ignoring his promise to leave the West Village home to the Native American tribe.

Purchased in 2006 for $2.2 million, the three-story home has seen its value skyrocket ever since, and is currently worth at least $5 million.

After leaving several other homes in Africa to his adopted son, along with a payment of $100,000, the New Yorker also asked in his will to be buried near his wife in New Mexico and various charities to receive cash from his extensive estate.

His brother Alain reportedly declined to comment on the property, but added that “no decision has been made” on the West Village property.