Disbarred Lawyer Banned in UK for Misusing Funds

0:00It's April 9th. You're listening to Canada News today, AI-powered local news. I'm Corey with the story. A former University of Manitoba law school dean named Jonathan Blackbranch got hit with a double whammy on his legal career. He misspent over $600,000 in public university funds, leading to his disbarment in Manitoba two years ago. Now the bar in England and Wales just banned him too for not reporting any of it when he went back home. The UK board called his actions blatant dishonesty that could wreck trust in lawyers everywhere. They leaned hard on Manitoba's findings from their probe, and slapped him with a fine of about $5,000 Canadian dollars on top of the 36,000 he already owed there. University folks and other faculty pushed for a police look after whistleblower spilled the beans in 2020. The school sued him last year, and Manitoba court ordered him to pay back $679,000 right away. Looking into the details, he funneled cash through a center he ran for fancy non-degree

1:01courses at Harvard and Yale, plus club meals he claimed were. Business, but mostly solo, and even wired money to a group he founded. All told, it broke every rule on approvals and integrity. Winnipeg police still have a Canada-wide warrant out for fraud over $5,000, and their probe rolls on while he stays out of sight in England. This case shows how far accountability reaches across borders.