Non-profit accuses former financial director of misappropriating millions

A First Nations non-profit organization has accused a former employee of misappropriating $6.3 million in federal funds through an alleged money laundering scheme that saw her divert money to a Jamaican dance hall singer.

First Nations National Guardians Network filed a lawsuit against its former financial director, Melanie Desjarlais, in the Court of King’s Bench on March 20. It alleges the Winnipeg woman took funds intended for Indigenous ecological programs and diverted them through TikTok, PayPal and Apple platforms.

“The defendant made the payments to divert money to herself or to third parties connected to her, and to support her expensive lifestyle, which included extensive travel, attendance at hockey, and other luxuries,” it says.

“The impact of Ms. Desjarlais’s conduct has been devastating.”

The National Guardians Network is a First Nations-led non-profit that launched in 2022 and consists of eight employees — all of whom work remotely. It is based in Akwesasne, a Mohawk community that encompasses parts of Ontario, Quebec and New York.

In 2024, Environment and Climate Change Canada announced the network would independently manage funds for the federal guardians program, which provides money for First Nations to conduct ecological research and employment. At the time, the government pledged $27.6 million for the program.

The lawsuit says Desjarlais joined the organization in February 2024 and assumed total control of its finances in August 2025, when its executive director went on medical leave. Her role included overseeing and managing all of the network’s money, including financial forecasting, government reporting and disbursing funds to guardian program participants.

From that month forward, Desjarlais began missing regularly scheduled staff meetings, repeatedly citing various health issues affecting herself or her son as justification, the lawsuit says.

“These medical excuses became a recurring pattern that Desjarlais used to avoid scrutiny and accountability,” it says.

The lawsuit claims Desjarlais used two of the organization’s corporate credit cards to make $6.3 million in charges by March 2026. It accuses her of lying, withholding information and forging bank documents to cover her tracks.

It also includes an allegation that Desjarlais accepted a full-time position with another First Nation last spring while simultaneously working for the Guardian Network.

The organization’s board became suspicious of Desjarlais in December 2025, owing to her limited responsiveness and ongoing failure to provide financial statements.

In February, the lawsuit claims Desjarlais produced a bank document showing a ledger balance of about $900,000. The organization later learned the balance was less than $300,000.

“This document was a forgery,” the lawsuit says. “Desjarlais falsified the document to hide her ongoing fraud.”

The lawsuit noted the organization’s bank had emailed seven notices about suspicious transactions on its corporate card between July 2025 and February, but those went to Desjarlais’s work account and were concealed from the board.

The following month, the Guardians Network contacted police to report the potential fraud and then suspended Desjarlais.

A spokesperson for the RCMP said the Winnipeg Police Service is currently in charge of the file. The WPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After Desjarlais was suspended, the Guardians Network hired accounting firm KPMG to conduct a financial audit, which uncovered an array of unauthorized charges.

Those included repeated payments to accounts believed to belong to Conrad Williams, a Jamaican musician who goes by the name Short Ghad, “with whom the defendant has a relationship of some kind,” the lawsuit says.

The audit found about $5 million worth of payments to TikTok.

The online video platform allows users to buy virtual currency, called diamonds, which can be gifted to others. These diamonds can be cashed out by the recipient, and “used as a vehicle for money laundering,” court documents say.

Transaction records show Desjarlais sent another $930,000 in PayPal payments to various accounts and $345,000 through Apple platforms, according to the financial audit.

Other expenses included nearly $9,000 spent on a pair of luxury cruise lines, $1,500 spent at a local jewelry store and about $300 for the online videogame Roblox, the audit says.

The lawsuit claims participants in the guardians programs have suffered as a result of Desjarlais’s actions and the network “has been left without the funds required to meet basic operating costs.”

In March, the government announced an additional $230 million in support of the guardians program, but the news release did not mention the Guardians Network.

A spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada said it has assumed control of distributing guardian program funds since the allegations against Desjarlais came to light. It will also expand its routine audit of the Guardians Network.

Matthew Sammon, a lawyer representing the Guardians Network, said the organization is working with the government and is strengthening is financial oversight and accountability measures.

“This situation stems from the actions of a single individual and does not reflect the values or mission of (National Guardians Network) or the guardians programs it supports,” he said in an email.

Desjarlais has not filed a statement of defence, and the allegations have not been tested in court. Her lawyer, Eric Blouw, declined to comment.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca