Matter of Fer de Lance Foundation - Fines totalling more than $1.7 million and a prison term for one of the defendants

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Montréal – On January 23, 2017, Judge Serge Délisle of the Court of Québec, district of Montréal, imposed fines totalling $1,767,000 on the defendants in the Fer de Lance Foundation (“Foundation”) matter and ordered defendant Paul M. Gélinas to serve a two-year prison term.

This sentencing judgment follows the guilty verdict rendered on March 15, 2016 against the defendants, with the exception of Georges Fleury, who pleaded guilty on January 25, 2016.

The fines and prison term imposed on the defendants are as follows:

  • Paul M. Gélinas: two-year prison term and fines totalling $330,000;
  • Michel Hamel: fines totalling $255,000;
  • Georges Fleury: fine totalling $170,000;
  • Réjean Duguay: fines totalling $126,000;
  • Denis Nadeau: fines totalling $36,000;
  • Fer de Lance Foundation: fines totalling $850,000.

In his sentencing judgment, Judge Délisle pointed out that Paul M. Gélinas was the mastermind behind the Foundation’s complex financial engineering, and that the contract documents he created gave investors the false impression that their investments were fully guaranteed, in addition to promising exceptional returns.

Note that the defendants have appealed the guilty verdict to the Québec Superior Court.

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

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