Prison term against Vincent Lacroix reduced to 5 years less one day : AMF carefully reviewing court of appeal decision

Decisions and Freeze and cease trade orders Securities

Montréal – Judges Benoît Morin, François Doyon and Lise Côté of the Québec Court of Appeal have handed down a decision whereby Vincent Lacroix's prison term is reduced to five years less one day. The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), which argued for restoring the sentence to 12 years less one day, is very disappointed with the latest decision.

The AMF will use the time period available to it to carefully review the Court of Appeal decision before deciding whether to bring the matter before the Supreme Court of Canada. Reducing Vincent Lacroix's prison term would seem to send a negative message as to the likelihood of obtaining penal court sentences that are proportional to the seriousness of the offences committed. The AMF considers that economic crimes are serious and detrimental to society and should be harshly penalized with exemplary sentences for deterrence purposes.

On  11, 2007, Judge Claude Leblond found Vincent Lacroix guilty on the 51 charges brought against him by the AMF on  9, 2006. In  2008, Judge Leblond sentenced Vincent Lacroix to a prison term of 12 years less one day. Subsequently, on July 8, 2008, Judge André Vincent of the Superior Court of Québec handed down a decision whereby the sentence was reduced to 8 and one half years.

The decision (in French only) handed down by the Court of Appeal is available on the AMF website, under Current Issues / Dossier Norbourg.

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

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