Sign for the Skydancer Smoke Shop in Seneca Falls, New York. Image from Google Maps

The Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma reached a settlement with the federal government over the 2013 raid of a smokeshop in New York.

Federal authorities seized more than a million cigarettes and other tobacco products from the Skydancer Smoke Shop in Seneca Falls. They also seized $554,058 from a tribal bank account.

The tribe was accused of selling untaxed cigarettes. The issue is still being heard in the courts but the parties agreed to a settlement in which the tribe will receive about half of the seized funds.

The government will auction some of the tobacco that was seized, with 42 percent of the proceeds to go to the tribe. The government will return 144 cases of Skydancer-brand cigarettes but those will be destroyed as part of the settlement.

The tribe will receive a refund of federal excise taxes that were paid on the Skydancer cigarettes.

Get the Story:
Feds, Cayuga-Seneca tribe reach settlement (The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle 6/11)

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