The man behind one of Canada's worst financial scandals wants his criminal trial to be stopped.
Vincent Lacroix is at the Montreal courthouse on Thursday, asking a judge to halt the criminal proceeding that is set to begin in September.
Lacroix, who faces 200 charges in the trial, argues he should not be tried twice for the same crimes.
In December of 2007, Lacroix was convicted and sentenced to jail for 51 violations of securities law as head of the now-defunct Norbourg group of companies.
He was approved last week for day parole that begins at the end of the month.
A judge last year reduced Lacroix's 12-year prison term to eight and a half years.
The Superior Court judge ruled the original sentence was too long.
Criminal charges
In June of last year, the RCMP also charged Lacroix and six other men with criminal counts including forgery, fraud and money laundering. Police allege Lacroix stole $95 million from more than 9,000 clients between 2002 and 2005.
Investigators say that some of the money was used to purchase personal belongings and to make personal investments.
Co-conspirators
The six others, including a federal bureaucrat, face a total of 922 charges as Lacroix's alleged co-conspirators.
Four of the men have close ties to Norbourg including bookkeeper Jean Cholette and company auditor Remi Deschambault. The six are accused of fraud for allegedly helping Lacroix falsify documents.
The bureaucrat, Jean Renaud, was a federal finance employee who was on an unpaid leave of absence until he was fired when the charges were laid last June.
