Troubled Vancouver dentist faces new lawsuit

The lawsuits are starting to add up for Dr. Christopher Zed, a former UBC dentist accused of misusing millions of taxpayers’ dollars.

In addition to legal claims from the Canadian government and a B.C. First Nation over a dental care program in Haida Gwaii, Zed is now facing allegations he failed to repay $200,158 to the Royal Bank of Canada. The latest lawsuit, filed last month in B.C. Supreme Court, alleges that Zed owes the bank for a line of credit and a series of loans taken out in 2014 and 2016. His now-dissolved “boutique health care and academic planning consulting firm,” Leam Hall Consulting, is also named as a defendant in the suit.

According to a statement of claim from the bank, RBC has demanded repayment of all of the funds, with no result. The bank is asking for Zed to pay back all of his loans, with interest, as well as court costs. None of the allegations in the suit have been proven in court, and Zed has yet to file a response. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

Zed resigned from UBC’s school of dentistry in 2013 after nearly two decades at the school. The story behind his resignation didn’t start to become clear until late last year, when the federal government filed suit against him and the university, alleging that he transferred $2 million of public funding to accounts he controlled and that UBC overbilled Health Canada by $3.3 million.

The suit alleges that only $7.3 million of $10.6 million in federal funding was used for its intended purpose, which was to support two clinics for First Nations members in Skidegate and Old Masset.

The Skidegate Indian Band also filed suit over the program earlier this year, alleging unjust enrichment by Zed and UBC and accusing Health Canada of breaching its fiduciary duty to band members.

The allegations in those two suits also haven’t been tested in court. Zed has yet to respond to the federal government’s claim, but in his response to the band’s claim, he asserts that he was not unjustly enriched. UBC’s responses to both claims acknowledge that Zed “inappropriately enriched himself” but deny that the school is liable for or unfairly profited from Zed’s alleged actions.

The school also claims that Zed has repaid some of the money he allegedly diverted for his personal use.

Zed is still registered with the College of Dental Surgeons of B.C., with a clinic located on Fraser Street.