Mount Real - Luigi Muro found guilty and ordered to pay $324,000

Decisions and Freeze and cease trade orders Securities

Montréal – In a decision handed down on April 2, 2008, Judge Louis Legault of the Court of Québec (Criminal and Penal Division), district of Montréal, found Luigi Muro guilty on the 50 charges brought against him by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). The Judge also ordered him to pay a fine of $324,000, or twice the minimum amount prescribed by law, plus costs.

Luigi Muro faced 50 charges for violating the Securities Act (the “Act”) by:

  • assisting, by act or omission, Mount Real Acceptance Corporation and Mount Real Corporation with the distribution of a form of investment governed by the Act, namely, debt securities of the companies referred to above without holding a prospectus approved by the AMF, thereby violating sections 11 and 208 of the Act (24 charges);
  • acting as a securities dealer or adviser without being registered with the AMF, thereby violating section 148 of the Act (22 charges);
  • making misrepresentations in respect of transactions in its securities when stating to investors that their investments were guaranteed, thereby violating subparagraph 1 of section 197 of the Act (4 charges).

On January 24, 2007, the AMF filed 619 charges against 24 individuals implicated at various levels in the matter of Mount Real Corporation and its subsidiaries. With this verdict, four individuals (Victor Lacroix, Armando Ferruci, Christophe Balayer and Luigi Muro) have to date been found guilty as a result of the legal proceedings that have been launched, for a total of  charges and a total of $802,000 in fines.

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

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