Millionaire lied about leaving Native American tribe his home - but bequeathed ... trends now
A stingy Manhattan millionaire who promised his $5 million West Village property to a Native American tribe before he died has instead left his cat $50,000.
Jean-Louis Goldwater Bourgeois pledged in 2016 to give his historic home to the Lenape Indian tribe, the original Native American nation in Manhattan, after claiming he was 'disgusted' that the property had been 'taken by whites'.
But while there was no mention of the deed following his death in December, Bourgeois did remember to leave a massive sum for the care of his favorite feline.
Bourgeois' U-turn is especially ironic given that he previously campaigned for Native American rights, reportedly spending eight weeks in North Dakota protesting an oil pipeline near an Indian Reservation months before offering to return his home.
'I’m extremely interested in the Lenapes,' he insisted at the time.
Jean-Louis Goldwater Bourgeois promised to leave his Manhattan home to the Lenape Indian tribe in 2016
Anthony Van Dunk, the chief of the Ramapough Indians, part of the Lenape tribe, said
Speaking at the time of his generous bequeathment, Bourgeois told the New York Post: 'I have a romance with the history of the city, and I have been generally appalled that the land that the city is on has been taken by whites.
'This building is the trophy from major theft. It disgusts me.'
He added that he felt obligated to give his Manhattan home back after feeling 'rage against what whites have done and some guilt, no, a lot of guilt, that I have profited from this major theft. The right thing to do is to return it.'
The eccentric New Yorker originally thought to give back his home after meeting a man named Joseph Scabby Robe, a Cree
