A federal judge has approved a $9 million class action settlement involving a nonprofit telecommunications co-op that will pay back millions in capital credits to several hundred tribal members of the former Browning Exchange who alleged discrimination when the company withheld the credits after a 2020 sale.

The final approval of the settlement on July 14 means that the five plaintiffs who sued 3 Rivers Telephone Cooperative, and around 1,800 members of the class in the settlement, are likely to receive their payouts from the settlement in the next few weeks, attorneys for the plaintiffs said, adding that it will be much-welcomed money for members of the Blackfeet Nation.