Notorious finance scammer Vincent Lacroix returned to the transitional home

Article content

Vincent Lacroix, the founder and former CEO of Groupe Norbourg who was convicted of defrauding more than 9,200 investors out of $ 115 million, has been returned to a transitional home seven years after he was granted full parole.

Article content

According to the summary of a decision made by the Canadian Parole Board earlier this week, Lacroix, 54, was returned to the rehab home in August after being arrested after an argument with a neighbor.

He is still serving a 17-year sentence that began in 2008 after he was convicted of 51 violations of the Quebec Securities Act for defrauding 9,200 investors out of their savings between 2000 and 2005. His first sentence was later increased in 2009 to the current 17 years. prison sentence, he pleaded guilty, in the Superior Court of Quebec, to 200 counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, fraud, use of the proceeds of crime, conspiracy to manufacture false documents and creation of false documents.

He was granted day parole in 2014 and, according to the summary, he respected the conditions that the parole board placed on him for years.

Article content

“On August 27, 2021, however, he was arrested after a verbal altercation, with a neighbor, in which (allegedly) he threatened the person. It seems that you reacted to what you yourself perceived as threats from that person to your family, ”the board stated in the decision. “A complaint was filed with the police, after which he was released with the promise to appear and on the condition that he not communicate with the victim or appear at his home.”

The summary notes that Lacroix has not been charged with any crime related to the incident, but Quebec’s criminal prosecution office has yet to make a decision on the record.

Three days after his arrest, Lacroix called his parole officer and reported what happened. The summary describes how your case management team decided that you should return to a rehabilitation center to avoid coming into contact with your neighbor.

Article content

Lacroix complied with the order and has been living in a rehab facility ever since, despite the fact that his neighbor moved out earlier this month.

The parole board decided this week that Lacroix should continue to reside in a rehab facility for another three months.

“The behavior with which he is currently accused constitutes a significant breach of one of his usual conditions of release, namely that he must respect the law and not disturb public order,” wrote the author of the abstract. “Under the circumstances, the board believes it is justified to establish a more meaningful framework that gives it time to understand his behavior for himself and establish, with the help of his case management team, the necessary guidelines to avoid a recurrence.”

[email protected]