Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation in the N.W.T. has won a lawsuit against an Ontario estate lawyer who stashed hundreds of ounces of precious metals for former Denesoline Corporation CEO Ron Barlas.
On Monday, N.W.T. Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Devlin ordered lawyer Andrew Rogerson to return a $90,000 retainer from Barlas he illegally spent, and to pay all legal costs incurred by the First Nation during the legal action against Rogerson.
It marks the conclusion of a particularly colourful offshoot of Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation’s (LKDFN) wide-ranging civil action against Barlas, which is still ongoing.
Barlas — who has been accused of misappropriating $12 million from LKDFN companies — hired Rogerson just days before all of Barlas’s assets were frozen because of his alleged fraud. Barlas paid Rogerson a $90,000 retainer.
Rogerson then transported hundreds of ounces of precious metals out of N.W.T. for Barlas and kept them in a safe at his Ontario law office. Among the metals were 300 ounces of gold — equivalent to 8.5 kilograms, or the weight of a large pug dog.
Both the $90,000 retainer Barlas paid Rogerson and the precious metals were included under the court order which froze all of Barlas’s assets.
Despite this, Rogerson paid himself the entire retainer, providing no documentation to show what work for Barlas he had done to earn the money.
Lawyers for LKDFN first reached out to Rogerson in 2023, asking him to disclose and return the $90,000 and the precious metals. After months of asking Rogerson to return the precious metals, the receiver holding Barlas’s assets eventually went to Rogerson’s office with a court order in hand and retrieved the precious metals in May 2024.
LKDFN lawyers also filed a motion asking a judge to order Rogerson to return the $90,000 retainer. It’s this motion which was heard on Monday.
Rogerson missed the court appearance, sending an email partway through the proceedings with an attached letter from a Scarborough doctor saying he was sick. It’s one of several court dates Rogerson has missed during these proceedings.
Justice Devlin gave his decision despite Rogerson’s absence, calling his behaviour throughout the proceedings “appalling,” adding that he had obstructed and slowed down the proceedings repeatedly.
“The severity of the matter cannot be understated,” Devlin said.
He also ordered Rogerson to cover the full $47,000 in legal work that LKDFN lawyers did to recover the $90,000.
Justice Devlin called that $47,000 bill “modest” considering the facts of the case.
Rogerson is currently suspended from practicing as a lawyer in Ontario because of disciplinary tribunal findings that he sexually harassed some of his female employees and sent unprofessional and abusive emails to two clients.