On Your Side: Mount Real fraud victims still waiting for justice

For six years, the victims in the Mount Real fraud scandal have watched as Quebecers were outraged and demanded that Earl Jones and Vincent Lacroix of Norbourg infamy be brought to justice.

Meanwhile, their own desire for closure has gone largely unnoticed, and completely unresolved.

Approximately 1,600 people from across Canada were allegedly bilked of about $130 million by Mount Real, a firm whose principal business activity was selling magazine subscriptions but which is now accused of being a total hoax.

Five of the company's former officers, including former CEO Lino Matteo, were charged under Quebec's Securities Act back in 2008.

The Autorité des marches financiers (AMF) began investigating Mount Real in 2005 and uncovered what it called a "network of about 120 companies with accounts in Canada, the U-S and the Carribean."

But still, six years after the investigation began and three years after charges were first laid, no trial has begun.

And those who lost money by investing in Mount Real are fed up waiting for justice.

Among them is Lennoxville's Jane Watson, who spends several hours a day working on her case.

Losing your retirement savings of $68,000 is pretty strong motivation to keep going until that day in court arrives.

"When we finally realized that our money was gone it's like getting kicked in the stomach," Watson told CTV Montreal's Tania Krywiak. "I mean, you've worked all your life very hard to save that amount of money."

It's the same story for Len Perrigo, who lost just under $100,000 in savings.

"I wondered how I was going to manage," Perrigo says, "because it was quite a hit to be told this."

The five former officers of Mount Real – including Matteo, who was recently arrested in another fraud case involving Cinar co-founder Ronald Weinberg – were charged with presenting false financial data, among other charges.

But the victims continue to wait for them to be brought to justice, and the frustration is starting to boil over for many of them.

Famed Quebec singer and actor Bruno Pelletier – another one of the victims – decided recently to speak out.

"We don't stop hearing about Earl Jones and Norbourg, but when it comes to Mount Real, one of the biggest economic scandals in Quebec, we hear nothing about it," he told Krywiak. "I want to see those at fault either go to prison, get fines or lose their licenses."

Representatives of the AMF refused to speak to Krywiak on camera, citing the fact the case is before the courts, but it says the Mount Real case is a complex one with 5,000 boxes of documents and offshore accounts to track.

So in the meantime, the victims continue waiting and hoping a class action suit currently before the courts can help recover some of their lost money, and perhaps even provide some degree of closure until the criminal case can finish the deal.

But even the class action has yet to receive approval nearly three years after the motion was presented, suffering from numerous delays.

A recent letter-writing campaign has seemingly borne fruit, as a court date of June 16 has been set to determine whether the class action suit will move forward.