Former Norbourg President Vincent Lacroix plans to appeal a court's decision to declare him bankrupt and seize his $37 million in assets, Montreal Gazette reports.
Following the discovery of $130 million missing at Norbourg last summer, which had belonged to approximately 9,000 investors, Quebec's financial regulator charged Lacroix with 51 counts of fraud, manipulation of mutual fund values and falsified documents.
Each charge could put Lacroix behind bars for up to five years less a day, or cost him between $20,000 and $5 million in fines. Creditors are currently seeking $60 million from the firm.
Lacroix says he is innocent and is "surprised by some comments in the judgment." But Yves Michaud, the head of a group of Norbourg shareholders, countered: "If he has one ounce of morals, any sense of justice, he will forgo the appeal because it's pure comedy. We remember the crocodile tears he shed when the Norbourg affair exploded and he said he was on the investors' side and could defend them."
