Enviromondial : AMF appealing sentence against Stevens Demers

Securities

Montréal – The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is appealing before the Superior Court of Québec, district of Terrebonne, the sentence handed down on August 5, 2009 against Stevens Demers, former president of Enviromondial.

Last month, Judge Paul Chevalier of the Court of Québec, district of Terrebonne, sentenced Stevens Demers, who had previously been found guilty of 346 offences under the Securities Act, to 30 months in prison and ordered him to pay a fine totalling $1,097,500.

The AMF conducted a thorough and in-depth analysis of the sentence handed down by Judge Chevalier and decided that an appeal was necessary. The AMF believes the 30-month prison term is inadequate in light of the need for denouncement and deterrence in matters related to securities offences. The AMF will be seeking a prison term of five years less one day.

These recent Superior Court proceedings confirm that the AMF considers economic crimes to be serious and detrimental to society and should be harshly penalized with exemplary sentences for deterrence purposes.

On August 5, 2009, Stevens Demers decided to file an appeal of the guilty verdict and sentence handed down by Judge Chevalier.

The sentence handed down by Judge Chevalier as well as the appeal notice filed by the AMF (in French only) are available on the AMF website under News.

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec's financial sector.

— 30 —

Information:

Media only:
Sylvain Théberge: (514) 940-2176

Information Centre:
Québec City: 418-525-0337
Montréal: 514-395-0337
Toll-free: 1-877-525-0337

Additional news