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Fleeing financier Pierre Montpellier asking for bail

By Keith Lacey It will be a long weekend for the former Sudbury investment broker accused of bilking clients of more than $6 million. Pierre Montpellier will find out Monday if he will be released on bail.
By Keith Lacey

It will be a long weekend for the former Sudbury investment broker accused of bilking clients of more than $6 million. Pierre Montpellier will find out Monday if he will be released on bail.

After being denied bail by a justice of the peace in November, his defence counsel applied for a bail review.

Justice Ian Gordon of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered a publication ban on all evidence presented at the bail review hearing earlier this week.

In November, justice of the peace Charles Sanders ruled there was too strong a chance Montpellier presented a strong flight risk, one of the key considerations when determining whether or not to grant bail.

Sanders ruled he was not convinced Montpellier would not leave Sudbury if allowed out of jail.

Defence counsel Norm Williams of Toronto and Sudbury lawyer Glenn Sandberg told Gordon things have changed dramatically since November.

A number of sureties willing to put up a significant amount of money have come forward and Montpellier would be able to obtain work immediately if he was released, said Williams before the bail review hearing began with Montpellier taking the stand.

Montpellier, 40, faces 302 charges - 151 of fraud over $5,000 and 151 of theft over $5,0000 - after allegedly stealing close to $6 million from 108 investors between 1995 and when he left Sudbury for England in late 1998.

Montpellier was a licenced mutual fund and limited market dealer operating a company known as Montpellier Group Inc. in Sudbury from 1995 until his departure.

During the same time period Montpellier incorporated Foreign Capital Corp. as an investment vehicle to raise money from investors to be used in international investments, say police.

Some 108 investors from all parts of Ontario put funds in the company believing their monies were being invested overseas in a guaranteed and secure venture with interest on the investments being paid on a regular basis. When investors didnít receive any payments, they contacted several police agencies in the province to complain.

After a lengthy police investigation, Montpellier was arrested in England and arrived back in Canada Nov. 1.

If bail is granted, it's expected Gordon will impose very harsh conditions on him, including house arrest when he's not working.

If bail is denied, Montpellier is expected to spend several more months in custody as this case involves thousands of pages of documents and a three-year police investigation.