Jeff Rath sold $6.6M estate amid court fight over First Nation fee refund

Résumé détaillé

Global News examined Rath’s sworn testimony and financial records, uncovering unreported property deals and longstanding debts he sought urgent court approval to pay.

Alberta lawyer Jeffrey Rath and his wife sold a waterfront estate in B.C. for $6.6 million – more than $4 million above its purchase price – while his firm fought a court order to refund millions to a First Nation client, Global News has found.

In March 2021, an Alberta judge ordered Rath’s firm to refund $8.5 million in legal fees to Tallcree First Nation. Rath and his firm appealed, and three months later, while the lawsuit continued, the couple sold their Galiano Island estate.

In the months that followed that sale, Rath signed documents transferring his interest in the couple’s Calgary home to his wife, Dayna Laverick-Rath, for a stated $1 and granting her a $10-million collateral mortgage over his Foothills ranch, property records show.

What happened to the proceeds of the Galiano sale, and the financial implications of the subsequent property transactions, remain unclear. Five years later, however, Tallcree is still fighting for that refund.

As Global News previously reported, Tallcree chief Rupert Meneen is suing Rath and his firm, RathPC, for nearly $15 million over disputed trust withdrawals, including the $8.5-million refund and millions in administration fees. The First Nation has now asked a court to expand an investigative receiver’s powers from investigating Rath’s finances to taking control of assets and recovering the money.

The lawsuit sparked further legal battles with other First Nations and American litigation funders, with more than $150 million in disputed debts, legal fees and allegedly unauthorized trust withdrawals at stake.

As lawyers scrutinize Rath’s finances and asset disclosures, Global examined records beyond his sworn testimony.

That investigation uncovered the Galiano estate sale and Calgary property transfer, which have not surfaced in court proceedings.

Rath has been questioned in court about the $10 million mortgage, however. He said it arose from a matrimonial property agreement and denied it was intended to protect assets from…

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