EDMONTON — An Alberta judge has temporarily frozen more than $8.5 million in assets belonging to prominent separatist lawyer Jeffrey Rath and his professional corporation amid allegations involving trust money from a First Nation Treaty settlement.
Alberta Court of King’s Bench Justice Michael Marion granted the interim Mareva injunction Friday against Rath and Jeffrey R.W. Rath Professional Corporation, operating as Rath & Company.
The order freezes up to $8,518,075 in property, including bank and investment accounts, vehicles, real estate, personal property and shares, after the court found reasonable grounds to believe assets could be moved or dissipated before judgment.
The order is scheduled to be reviewed Wednesday.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
Rath has not filed a response to the latest allegations. A lawyer representing him declined to comment to The Globe and Mail, while Rath declined to answer specific questions from Global News, citing the ongoing court proceedings.
The court fight stems from Rath’s work representing Tallcree First Nation in a $57.6-million Treaty 8 settlement with the federal government involving agricultural benefits promised under the Treaty.
Rath’s firm initially charged a 20-per-cent contingency fee worth about $11.5 million.
Alberta courts later found the fee unreasonable and ordered Rath’s firm to return about $8.5 million to the First Nation’s trust. The Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the decision, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear a further appeal.
The trust was established to distribute settlement money to Tallcree members, including holding shares belonging to minors until they reached adulthood.
Rath’s firm remained the sole trustee of the fund.
Court documents filed by Tallcree Chief Rupert Meneen allege Rath stopped providing financial statements for the trust after 2020.
Tallcree alleges financial records eventually obtained through court proceedings showed Rath’s firm charged the trust about $6.4 million in administrative and professional fees during 2024 and 2025.
The charges included $4.6 million in retroactive trust administration costs and $1.4 million in professional fees in 2024, according to court documents.
Tallcree’s lawyers allege the timing suggests the trust effectively paid for much of the court-ordered repayment owed by Rath’s firm.
Rath has previously said all funds were properly distributed under the terms of the trust and argued the fees resulted from legal proceedings initiated by Meneen.
The dispute escalated June 26 when another Court of King’s Bench judge temporarily removed Rath’s firm as trustee and replaced it with BMO Trust Company.
Court documents allege BMO subsequently discovered Rath’s professional corporation transferred $8,518,075 from a trust account to its own account in November 2025.
The amount was identical to the court-ordered repayment owed to Tallcree.
“Rath has refused to disclose the whereabouts of these funds. Their whereabouts are currently unknown,” Meneen alleged in a July 8 court application.
Court documents also allege Rath’s firm wired $106,000 to an unidentified recipient on June 26, the same day the firm was removed as trustee.
Meneen’s application alleges about two-thirds of the value of the trust’s assets have been dissipated since 2024.
Justice Marion said there were grounds to believe Rath’s assets could be “dissipated or removed” before judgment, according to the court ruling.
The order allows Rath to spend up to $10,000 on living expenses and $100,000 on legal fees before Wednesday’s hearing.
The court battle comes as Rath has become one of the most prominent figures in Alberta’s separatist movement.
Rath is a co-founder and legal counsel for the Alberta Prosperity Project and has travelled the province promoting independence while participating in legal proceedings involving efforts to hold a referendum on Alberta leaving Canada.
He has also generated controversy through a series of extraordinary public claims.
Rath has claimed the federal government is restricting Alberta’s resources “at the behest of the Communist Chinese” and said U.S. officials were “very enthusiastic about Alberta becoming an independent country.”
He has argued supporting Alberta independence is in the national interest of the United States.
Rath also alleged former premier Jason Kenney, former premier’s chief of staff Marshall Smith and several senior Alberta government officials travelled to Puerto Vallarta before the 2023 provincial election and conspired to prepare for an expected NDP victory.
Kenney denied the allegations, saying he had never travelled to Puerto Vallarta or taken a personal trip to Mexico.
Rath later said he could not remember making comments captured in a video recorded at Edmonton’s Fairmont Hotel Macdonald and alleged the recording had been altered using artificial intelligence as part of a “connivance” involving the premier’s office.
The person who recorded the video said it had not been altered.
Rath has also faced disciplinary proceedings before the Law Society of Alberta.
In 2025, a disciplinary panel reprimanded Rath and imposed $800 in costs after he conceded taking steps while representing a client which were clearly without merit and unreasonably delayed tribunal proceedings.
In separate proceedings, the law society alleged Rath contacted former Alberta Health Services CEO Dr. Verna Yiu despite being told she was represented by legal counsel.
The law society also alleged Rath threatened to pursue murder, war crimes and crimes against humanity charges against provincial and federal officials, including former prime minister Justin Trudeau, over the approval of COVID-19 vaccines.
Rath has denied breaching professional conduct rules while acknowledging he may have used “overly aggressive language.”
A further hearing on the freezing order is scheduled for Wednesday.
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