MONTREAL - A provincial securities regulator asked the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on whether it has the right to ask for consecutive sentences for criminal convictions.
In response to a prominent fraud case, Quebec's Autorite des marches financiers asked Tuesday to make future convicts subject to separate sentences in criminal fraud and securities-violations cases.
But the AMF announced it wouldn't appeal the five-year sentence handed down to Vincent Lacroix, the convicted Ponzi schemer who prompted it to take action.
In an August judgment, the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled that it wasn't possible to impose consecutive sentences for securities violations and reduced Lacroix's sentence to five years less a day.
The Norbourg boss had initially been sentenced by the Quebec court to 12 years, and that was reduced on appeal in Quebec Superior Court to eight years.
The sentence stemmed from Lacroix's conviction on 51 Quebec Securities Act violations in 2007.
Lacroix also faced criminal charges and was sentenced this month to 13 years in jail after pleading guilty to 200 fraud-related charges, bilking some 9,200 clients out of $130 million.
The judge described Lacroix as the author of the biggest financial scandal in Canadian history.
Given the sentence on the criminal charges, the regulator decided not to appeal the securities violation sentence.
Quebec has already expressed its intention to amend the laws to permit consecutive sentences. However, the regulator still wants the Supreme Court to weigh in because any legislative change would not apply to cases already before the courts.
Five other former Norbourg Asset Management Inc. employees are currently facing charges as part of a criminal trial taking place in Montreal.
