By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

Just weeks after liens were placed on two Westmount homes owned by Robert Miller, a Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class-action suit against the billionaire.

Miller stands accused of paying women, who were allegedly minors at the time, for sex. Their lawyers, Jeff Orenstein and Lawrence David, made the request, which was approved by Quebec Superior Court Justice Catherine Piché.

The request was originally made last November. At the time Miller said he wanted to defend himself, but insisted, through his lawyer Karim Renno, that he could not effectively mount a defence if his accusers were allowed to remain anonymous.

Miller is accused, along with three of his former Future Electronics employees – Helmut Lippman, Raymond Poulet and Sam Joseph Abrams – of sex offences that are alleged to have taken place in Montreal-area hotels, as well as a home in Westmount. After a Radio-Canada documentary about the allegations, Miller sold Future Electronics, which is also named in the suit.

In Piché’s 76-page ruling, the judge wrote that some legal and factual questions will need to be answered, namely, did Miller indeed exploit minors for the purposes of sex, and whether the other defendants in the case “encouraged or aided as accomplices in the performance of these wrongful conducts”. And “Did one of more of the defendants wrongfully participate in an organized juvenile prostitution scheme?”

Also in the ruling was the authorization as representatives in the case against Miller “All persons who, while less than 18 years old, provided sexual services in exchange for remuneration, and/or were victims of sexual exploitation, and/or have been victims of incitement to sexual contact from Robert G. Miller, Raymond Poulet, Sam Joseph Abrams, Helmut Lippmann and/or Future Electronics Inc.”

Miller is 81, and is said by his lawyers to be too sick to appear in court. n