U of Manitoba changes course, asks police to investigate after law society finds former dean misspent $500K

The University of Manitoba is asking police to investigate a former law school dean after a regulatory body ruled he committed professional misconduct and misused about half a million dollars of university funds.

The announcement marks a shift, as the U of M has previously said it declined to seek civil or criminal charges against Jonathan Black-Branch, after allegations surfaced in 2020 that he inappropriately spent about $500,000 of university money.

A U of M spokesperson told CBC News on Friday that it made the request to Winnipeg police on Thursday, on the heels of a decision from a Law Society of Manitoba disciplinary panel.

The regulatory body's panel found Black-Branch breached his integrity during his tenure as a dean, from 2016 until 2020, when he left suddenly and without public explanation.

In a 28-page written decision dated Dec. 15, the panel suggested proof of professional misconduct presented at Black-Branch's hearing was strong enough "that even if the standard had been the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt, the panel would have been satisfied that proof was sufficient."

When asked why administration has decided now to ask for a police investigation, the U of M pointed to that specific passage in the ruling, which the university received on Monday.

"Our legal team reviewed the decision and yesterday we asked the WPS to investigate," a U of M spokesperson said in an email on Friday.

The University of Manitoba said a day earlier that it welcomed the law society's findings and was "engaging with the Winnipeg Police Service." While that Thursday statement said "that process is ongoing," it did not say the university had asked police to investigate.

That statement came after five professors in the U of M faculty of law sent a letter to the Winnipeg Police Service earlier on Thursday, encouraging a police investigation following the law society's ruling.

It suggested the university "may have documentation and/or additional information that may be relevant to a potential criminal investigation" into Black-Branch's actions.

Police confirmed to CBC News on Friday that they had received the professors' letter. A spokesperson did not say whether it has received U of M's request to investigate Black-Branch.

The U of M had previously said it declined to pursue civil or criminal action against Black-Branch, and instead opted to raise its concerns in a complaint to the law society in 2020, a decision that drew criticism.

The law society decision came just shy of a month after the conclusion of Black-Branch's misconduct hearing. He was not present for the hearing and did not put forward a defence.

The law society panel decision says Black-Branch "devised a scheme" to skirt oversight and wrongfully benefit himself financially, using hundreds of thousands of dollars from an endowment fund for students to pay for his own training at Ivy League schools.

The panel also found he charged the U of M for thousands more in "false claims of entertaining guests at Winnipeg restaurants [that] amounted to fraud."

"This egregious behaviour does not reflect well on UM, the profession and on the administration of justice," reads a passage of the law society panel decision.

The law society panel has yet to set a hearing date to determine how Black-Branch will be disciplined. He could be suspended, reprimanded or barred from practising law in Manitoba.