BY KEITH LACEY
When it came to ripping off clients, Pierre Montpellier was an equal opportunity con artist.
As was revealed in court Wednesday, disgraced former Sudbury financial adviser Montpellier didn't care if you were a member of his extended family, a close friend, dying of cancer, on a fixed income, elderly, alone or rich, he wanted your money.
And then he spent it to live a lavish lifestyle preserved only for the truly wealthy.
A lifestyle that included spending $200,000 at one Sudbury clothing store to purchase fine clothing, purchasing numerous $3,000 Georgio Armani suits at a Toronto clothing store, regularly renting the penthouse suite at Toronto's Four Seasons Hotel at $2,700 a night and a ?seemingly endless supply of Dom Perignon champagne at $150 a bottle.?
He also used the stolen money to pay off $850,000 in personal credit cards and a line of credit, another $850,000 as a down payment on a luxury Ramsey Lake home, paid out $425,000 to family members and leased luxury automobiles and paid their insurance and lease payments and purchased a Mercedes Benz and Lincoln Navigator for himself.
Montpellier, 42, was sentenced to two years in a federal penitentiary after pleading guilty to ripping off 128 clients of more than $5.37 million between Oct. 1 of 1995 and Dec. 31 of 1998.
With false promises of taking their money and investing it to garner remarkable returns, Montpellier not only conned professors, lawyers and accountants, but retired miners, the life savings of elderly couples, people dying of cancer and many members of his own family.
He pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000 and one count of theft over $5,000. He was originally charged with 151 counts of theft, but the plea bargain agreed Wednesday to incorporated 128 former clients he stole from.
The two-year penitentiary term will be served on top of 31 months in custody Montpellier has already served at the Sudbury District Jail. He was given credit for two days time served for every day spent in pre-trial custody.
This will bring his total sentence to seven years. Because he has no previous criminal record, Montpellier will likely be eligible for parole and release into a halfway house after serving four months or one-sixth of his penitentiary sentence.
Sgt. Larry Jenkins of the OPP's Anti-Rackets squad, who arrested Montpellier in England almost three years ago, read into the court record how much Montpellier stole from each and every one of his 128 victims and how their lives were affected.
A forensic audit of the $5.37 million stolen shows virtually ?every penny was spent? by Montpellier, said Jenkins.
Jenkins then listed in alphabetical order how much victims invested, reasons they believed in Montpellier and how their financial loss has affected their lives.
An overwhelming majority of investors knew Montpellier personally and placed their faith in him because of his solid reputation in the community and the image he presented to them, said Jenkins.
Montpellier's charm and personality not only swayed people of modest means, but wealthy business owners, lawyers, professors, engineers and many members of his extended family.
Montpellier convinced one investor who he knew was dying of cancer to sell his home and invest the money with him.
Very few of the 128 victims invested less than $10,000 US or $15,000 Canadian during that 30-month span.
The overwhelming majority of investors were older than age 50 and many gave Montpellier their life savings and retirement funds.
Assistant Crown attorney Diana Fuller told the court Montpellier's scheme to get rich and dupe clients was a ?classic Ponzi scheme? where the promoter sells investments into off-shore capital projects with ?guaranteed? return on the original investment and ?spectacular? returns on interest.
?Gullible members of the public are attracted? to such promises, but rather than invest the money, Montpellier simply spent it on himself, she said.
As more and more investors come on board, more capital is generated and most of the original investors did receive lucrative interest payments over the first several months, said Fuller.
However, as inevitably happens with all Ponzi schemes, ?this continues until the gig is up and there are no more gullible investors waiting in the wings.?
With ?heartbreaking predictability?, many investors were so impressed after initial investments, they borrowed more money and handed it over to Montpellier before things turned sour, she said.
There are ?no schemes out there that offer no-risk, high returns investments?, but Montpellier managed to con so many people largely because of the ridiculously lavish lifestyle he was living and portraying to clients, she said.
Montpellier assured every duped client of returns on original capital of between seven and 20 per cent, she said.
?Ultimately, as with all Ponzi schemes, the promoter can't keep up with the interest payments, which require the constant robbing of Peter to pay Paul,? said Fuller.
While many did receive interest payments, none of their original investments have ever been returned, she said.
The financial company Montpellier started called Montpellier Group Inc. did offer legitimate financial services until Montpellier got greedy and formulated a second company called Foreign Capital Corp.
All of the money from duped investors was poured into Foreign Capital Corp., a business Montpellier opened without the knowledge of the Ontario Securities Commission or Regal Capital Ltd., a legitimate Sudbury-based organization.
?All documentation was kept out of sight,? said Fuller.
By late 1997 some investors were complaining after interest payments slowed down and police were called in after they stopped completely in the fall of 1998, said Fuller.
There were no overseas investors and no overseas corporation backing Montpellier, said Fuller.
Montpellier told members of his staff that a European backer would come up with millions of dollars in the near future, said Fuller.
?He was trying to get into the big leagues? but things quickly fell apart, she said.
An investor at Montpellier's own company asked important questions about his own investments and resigned in April of 1998, said Fuller.
When police started their investigation in the fall of 1998, Montpellier kept them off with false promises about paperwork and in the November he told police how he was going to Europe to gather $3 million from a financial backer and potentially another $40 million from other investors, said Fuller.
?At this time Pierre Montpellier had spent all of the money, there was nothing left,? she said.
With numerous investors bringing forward complaints and the police investigation getting larger, Montpellier left for England on Dec. 8, 1998 ?seemingly beyond the reach of the law.?
However, hard work by police and lawyers in two different countries resulted in an arrest warrant being issued for Montpellier in England.
He was finally found in a small town outside London and brought back to Canada on Nov. 1, 1998. He's remained in custody since then.
In her submissions in sentencing, Fuller said the range for such a large-scaled fraud is between four and eight years and the Crown was asking for a sentence at the top of the range because of the breach of trust involved, number of clients and severe damage caused.
The Crown's case against Montpellier was ?overwhelming? and his plea of guilt did save a long and difficult trial for many people, but did come less than a month before his trial was scheduled to start, said Fuller.
Many of the victims ?have lost their freedom for the rest of their lives? knowing Montpellier will be a free man again in a matter of months and his upsets many of them, she said.
Dozens of victims will never again enjoy the financial freedom they enjoyed before they met and placed their trust in Montpellier, said Fuller.
?Many had finally reached a time in their life when they could do as they pleased...that security and that freedom is gone,? she said.
?For many, this is the loss of a lifetime of work...many are becoming frail and elderly...and they soon won't be able to provide for themselves and their loved ones.?
Many victims remain angry and bitter and others have missed work, suffered poor health and seen their marriages dissolve as a direct result of Montpellier's actions, she said.
None of the victims she's talked to have any faith Montpellier will ever repay a single penny of the money he stole despite the outstanding civil action he still faces, said Fuller.
Montpellier betrayed the trust of so many people he knew simply because he could, she said.
?He was very suave and very well-dressed, but he had no conscience,? she said. ?He spent their money on parties and expensive toys.?
A penitentiary term will at least send the message this kind of deception and breach of trust of so many will result in the loss of freedom for an extended period of time, she said.
Defence counsel Norm Williams agreed the facts read in presented ? a terrible, terrible set of facts? and calls out for a severe penalty.
Montpellier was ?oblivious to the harm he was causing?, but realizes after spending so much time behind bars just how much damage he's caused, he said.
No other members of Montpellier's family had anything to do with the fraud and his client wanted that on the record, said Williams.
Montpellier was looking for ?the big score? in Europe to pay off his investors in Canada, but never succeeded and was duped in the same fashion he duped so many others, said Williams.
Montpellier and his family will have to live with the shame and embarrassment of what he did for the rest of their lives and this won't be easy for his client, said Williams.
