They once ran one of the most successful Canadian animation companies with popular children’s shows like the Emmy Award winning “Arthur” and “Caillou” becoming household names not only in Canada but internationally.
But former Cinar executives Ronald Weinberg, the founder of the company, as well as Lino Matteo and John Xanthoudakis will have a long-long time to come up with their next winning series, and this one may be set in jail.
This after a Quebec Superior Court judge sentenced Weinberg to 9 years in prison, while Matteo and Xanthoudakis got eight years each, for swindling investors out of more than $120 million in an elaborate fraud scheme.
Crown attorney Matthew Ferguson had called for 10 years imprisonment, arguing before Judge Pierre Labrie that the crimes had tarnished Canada’s reputation in international markets and made countless victims.
Longest jury trial in Canadian history
Today’s sentencing brings to a close the longest jury trial in Canadian history, which began in May 2014.
Weinberg founded the company with Micheline Charest, his late wife, back in the mid-1980’s, as a distribution company.
He and his associates faced several charges including, fraud, forgery, using fake documents and publishing a false prospectus.
Found guilty of nine of the 16 charges against him, Weinberg was acquitted of seven charges, including making and using false documents.
Matteo, who ran the Montreal-based investment firm Mount Real, was found guilty of nine of 11 charges against him.
Xanthoudakis, the former president and executive director of Norshield Financial Group, a Montreal-based hedge fund operator, was found guilty of all 17 charges against him.
Cinar’s former chief financial officer, Hasanain Panju, also charged in the scandal, pleaded guilty prior to this trial and was sentenced to four years in prison. He later testified for the Crown in the trial of Weinberg, Xanthoudakis and Matteo.
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