June 22, 2022 Securities

Montréal – The Autorité des marchés financiers (the “AMF”) has instituted penal proceedings, consisting of a total of nine counts, in the judicial district of Montréal against Justin Méthot, Jean-François Neault and Claude Gariépy.

Specifically, Justin Méthot faces one count of communicating privileged information about the securities of Colabor Group Inc. (“Colabor”), in contravention of sections 188 and 189 of the Securities Act.

Jean-François Neault faces seven counts, also for communicating privileged information about the securities of Colabor, in contravention of sections 188 and 189 of the Securities Act.

Claude Gariépy, a former president and chief executive officer of Colabor, faces one count of trading in the securities of Colabor while having privileged information relating to the securities, in contravention of sections 187 and 189 of the Securities Act.

An investigation by the AMF found that, before the departure of Colabor’s then-president and chief executive officer Lionel Ettedgui was officially announced, Justin Méthot learned about it and passed on the information to Jean-François Neault, who then passed it on to several other people, including Claude Gariépy. Claude Gariépy sold all of the Colabor common shares he held as soon as he was given the information, enabling him to avoid a loss due to the decline in the company’s share price following the announcement.

After the defendants enter a plea, the court will have to rule on the evidence submitted to it.

The Autorité des marchés financiers is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec’s financial sector.

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