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Jonathan Black-Branch, former University of Manitoba law dean, was arrested in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, on a Manitoba fraud charge and is being detained pending extradition.
Jonathan Black-Branch, a former University of Manitoba law dean wanted in Canada on a fraud charge, was arrested in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, on April 21 and is being detained, a French court official confirmed. The arrest follows a Canada-wide warrant issued on March 30 for fraud over $5,000.
Lauriane Pinard, an official with the Versailles Court of Appeal, said in an email that Black-Branch was arrested in the affluent municipality just west of Paris and has not been released. She confirmed he is being detained. Neuilly-sur-Seine had about 60,000 residents in 2023, according to France’s national statistics agency.
Extradition Request and Court Proceedings
A provisional arrest request was signed on April 1 and an extradition request was made on May 11, Pinard said. The Versailles Court of Appeal is handling the case, and to the court’s knowledge, Black-Branch does not hold French citizenship.
Justice Canada confirmed Canada has requested Black-Branch’s extradition from France to face charges in Manitoba. Global Affairs Canada said it is aware of the detention and that consular officials stand ready to provide assistance.
Winnipeg police previously confirmed Black-Branch, 64, was arrested in France but would not say when or where. They said last month the extradition process is ongoing before the French courts. Const. Stephen Spencer with the Winnipeg Police Service confirmed the Financial Crime Unit is leading the investigation and said more information will be provided should the extradition application be successful and Black-Branch be returned to Winnipeg.
University Funds Misappropriation Allegations
The charge of fraud has not been proven against him. Black-Branch was appointed law dean at the University of Manitoba starting in July 2016, for a term intended to last five years. An archived university announcement cited his academic leadership roles in Britain and Denmark and his research on nuclear non-proliferation law, saying the faculty could look forward to a very promising future under his leadership.
However, his term ended early. An internal investigation prompted by a complaint found he had misappropriated more than $660,000 in university funds while serving as dean. The university terminated his employment in July 2020, and at some point, he left the country.
The University of Manitoba sued Black-Branch in the Court of King’s Bench of Manitoba in August 2024 to recover the funds. According to the lawsuit, he had access to multiple university funds as dean, including general operating funds and faculty endowment funds, and spent them on professional development, club memberships, accommodations and meals.
Lawsuit Details and Financial Oversight
The claim alleges he spent more than $518,000 on professional development programs between December 2017 and July 2019, including an executive MBA and executive LLM, as well as courses at Harvard University, Cambridge Judge Business School and the Yale Global Executive Leadership Program.
It also alleges he caused the university to pay $75,000 to a nuclear disarmament non-profit where he served as president of the board of trustees, charging the payment to a separate university fund earmarked for law programs and staffing.
The lawsuit alleges he avoided oversight by routing the payments through a different approval system than the one his direct supervisor would review, then approving them himself using his own authority within the faculty of law. It says the university’s internal audit found he acted in a manner designed to conceal the misappropriation and to avoid oversight by others at the university.
The university was granted a default judgment of $679,269.98, plus legal costs, in May 2025. The university said last month that efforts to collect on the judgment are ongoing and has previously said it has strengthened its financial oversight and accountability measures.
Court documents filed by the university’s legal counsel list Black-Branch’s last known address as Oxford, England, but note there was some suspicion he may have been residing in Switzerland. Black-Branch was disbarred by the Law Society of Manitoba in February 2024 and later disbarred by the Bar Standards Board for England and Wales.
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