By Staff Reporter
October 28, 2025 – Oakland, CA — In a stunning exposé that’s rippling through California’s Indigenous and philanthropic circles, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe has leveled explosive charges against activist Corina Gould, accusing her of orchestrating an elaborate identity fraud scheme that ensnared Regan Pritzker‘s Kataly Foundation.
The foundation, seeded with millions from the Hyatt heiress and her husband Chris Olin, funneled over $20 million to Gould’s Sogorea Te’ Land Trust under the banner of “rematriation”—the return of sacred lands to Indigenous stewards. But according to a scathing May 2025 statement from the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, Gould’s self-proclaimed “Confederated Villages of Lisjan” is nothing more than a fabricated “pop-up tribe” with zero historical roots, designed to siphon funds from well-intentioned donors while erasing legitimate Ohlone sovereignty. “This isn’t rematriation—it’s theft,” the tribe declared, igniting calls for accountability and clawbacks in a saga blending colonial ghosts with modern grift.
The saga unfolded quietly at first. In March 2024, Berkeley’s city council hailed a landmark deal: the transfer of the 2.2-acre West Berkeley Shellmound site—once a sacred Ohlone burial ground bulldozed for a fish processing plant in 1999—back to Indigenous hands via Gould’s trust. Today it’s a parking lot.
Bolstered by the Kataly Foundation’s $20 million ‘Shuumi Land Tax’ donation, the purchase from developer Ruegg & Geyser symbolized a rare win for urban repatriation efforts. Gould, billing herself as chairwoman of the “Lisjan Nation,” beamed at celebrations, flanked by allies including community leaders and filmmakers like Toby McLeod. “This is healing for our people,” she said in July 2024, as the site was officially deeded to the trust.
But five months ago, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe— the only federally recognized successor to the historic Verona Band of Alameda County—dropped a bombshell public statement, branding Gould’s operation a “well-orchestrated theft” of their ancestral lands. Gould, the tribe asserts, is a documented descendant of Muwekma enrollees—her uncle John Guzman Jr., aunt Reyna Guzman Cerda, and extended family have held enrollment numbers since 1995—yet she spurned tribal membership in the 1990s to craft an independent persona.
Before 2005, she reportedly lacked even basic knowledge of her genealogy, which Muwekma’s ethnohistorian Alan Leventhal provided at her request. Armed with this lineage, Gould allegedly pivoted to invention: In 2018, she birthed the “Confederated Villages of Lisjan,” a term whose linguistic origins baffle California experts and which boasts no pre-2018 footprint in ethnographic records.
A ‘Pop-Up Tribe’ Built on Fiction
The tribe’s indictment paints Lisjan as a “pure political fiction”—a loose collective of non-Ohlone activists from across the U.S., lacking shared kinship, a constitution, or governance structures that define legitimate tribes.
“They are not kin to one another,” the statement reads, contrasting it with Muwekma’s court-affirmed sovereignty, rooted in 1906 federal recognition and never terminated by Congress. A 2009 National Park Service-commissioned study by anthropologists Randall Milliken, Lawrence Shoup, and Beverly Ortiz—detailing Ohlone connections to the San Francisco Peninsula—omits Gould entirely, despite her era’s activism.
Gould’s alleged sleight-of-hand extends to land claims: Her group’s websites and maps purportedly “erase Muwekma” territory, parceling it among other “illegitimate pop-up tribes” while staking illegitimate dibs on sites like the Oakland burial ground.
The Shuumi Land Tax—a voluntary “rent” from settlers on Ohlone land—has netted millions, but critics say it funnels cash to Gould personally, masquerading as collective Ohlone restitution. “Indigenous sovereignty isn’t a brand that can be bought and sold,” the Muwekma statement thunders, condemning her as a “non-enrolled Muwekma Ohlone Indian” unfit to lead.
Philanthropic circles, once effusive, are now reeling.
Kataly, founded in 2019 to catalyze “transformative change” with a focus on equity and justice, spotlighted Gould in podcasts and events, including a 2024 Scene on Radio episode where she joined Pritzker to extol reimagined economies. The foundation’s $20 million—its largest single grant—bankrolled not just the shellmound but broader “rematriation” initiatives, drawing praise from Justice Funders for fostering “right relationship.”
Yet Muwekma charges that donors like Pritzker were “well-meaning entities who do not have a clue about the aboriginal and legal history” of Ohlone tribes, three of which (Muwekma, Amah Mutsun, and Esselen) hold historic federal ties with documented lineages from the Mission period. ‘
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s ancestors were once enslaved at Mission Delores, Mission San Jose, and Mission Santa Clara, and were moved around like cattle in a forced labor system.
Echoes of Broader Scandals in Indigenous Philanthropy
Gould’s case isn’t isolated; it taps into a vein of controversy over “pretendians”—non-Native or fraudulently claiming figures co-opting Indigenous identity for gain. From the 2021 ouster of a Cherokee Nation citizen falsely posing as Lenape to recent probes into East Coast “tribes,” the pattern alarms real communities.
In California, where over 100 unrecognized groups vie for resources, Gould’s ascent—fueled by alliances with progressive nonprofits—exposes vetting gaps in billionaire giving. Pritzker, whose family fortune exceeds $40 billion, has committed hundreds of millions via Kataly to social justice, but this misstep underscores the perils of unchecked “decolonization” grants.
Sogorea Te’ maintains an active website touting the shellmound as a “victory for all Ohlone people,” while Gould’s bio lists her as a “Lisjan Ohlone leader” honored with lifetime achievement awards.
For Pritzker and her peers, it’s a cautionary tale: In the rush to atone for settler sins, due diligence isn’t optional—it’s sacred. Will Kataly claw back funds or double down on feigning ignorance, seemingly to avoid admitting they’ve profoundly undermined the sovereignty of the Ohlone people.
In the shadow of fraud, true rematriation demands more than checks—it demands truth.
Correction: An earlier version of this report misspelled Regan Pritzker’s first name as Reegan.
Be the first to comment