Vincent Lacroix, the former head of the investment firm Norburg who was found guilty of bilking his clients of $115 million, was back in court today.
Currently, Lacroix is serving an eight-and-a-half year sentence in a federal jail. The goal of Lacroix's lawyer, Clemente Monterosso, is to have that reduced to a five-year sentence. The Autorite des marches financieres wants the sentence increased to 12 years.
Snakes and ladders
When Vincent Lacroix originally went to trial, it was infront of a judge on charges brought by the AMF.
They sentenced him to 12 years. Typically, the AMF does not the the authority to sentence anyone to more than five years, but they took a look at his crimes and ordered that the individual sentences be served consecutively.
Lacroix was unhappy with the ruling, and took the case to Superior court.
The Superior court said that the judge ruling on behalf of the AMF was too strict, and reduced the sentence to eight-and-a-half years.
Still unsatisfied, Lacroix had his lawyers take the case to the Court of Appeals, where it rests today.
His lawyers are arguing that he should only be sentenced to five years, because that is all the AMF should be legally allowed to sentence anyone.
However, the AMF is arguing they were right in the first place, and that the 12-year sentence should be reinstated.
The ruling is expected sometime in the spring.
With files from Stephane Giroux.
