Ex-Dean Faces Fraud Charges, Disbarment, After Misusing Funds

0:00A Canada-wide arrest warrant dropped for Jonathan Blackbranch, ex- Dean of law at the University of Manitoba. Winnipeg police hit him with a fraud charge over $5,000 tied to his four-year stint from 2016 to 2020. An internal university probe uncovered over $600,000 in misused funds, mainly on professional development trips to spots like Harvard and Cambridge, plus memberships stays and meals. The bulk, over $518,000, went to those programs. Blackbranch guy can in July 2020, bolted the country, and the university sued him hard. They scored a default judgment in May 2025 for $6,9,269.98. Plus legal fees and 3% yearly interest. He's facing double disbarman. First by Manitoba's Law Society in February 2024, then England and Wales' bar in February this year, for breaching integrity and dodging hearings.

1:01Last word puts him in Oxford, England, may be Switzerland now. Meanwhile, the university is chasing every penny with new, anti-fraud policies and ethics training in place, while police keep digging, no word from. Blackbranch yet, but accountability is the name of the game as this plays out. That wraps Canada News today, brought to you with AI. I'm Corey with the story.