Robert Miller

Yet another Miller accomplice charged

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

Yet another associate of disgraced billionaire Robert Miller has been arrested.

Raymond Poulet’s name has come up before in the ongoing case against Miller. In fact, The Suburban reported on others implicated along with Miller, including Poulet and Sam Joseph Abrams..

The 76-year-old Poulet was arrested last week for allegedly aiding Miller in the crimes for which he stands accused: the sexual exploitation of young women and girls.

Poulet is facing 10 charges, including procuring an individual for sex, sexual interference, and sexual assault. In Poulet’s case, there are three alleged victims, one under the age of 14. The charges cover the period between 1995 and 2001.

Poulet is just five years younger than Miller who, deemed too sick or unfit to stand trial, was granted a stay of proceedings.

In a class-action lawsuit launched against Miller, Poulet, and others last January, women who were said to have been aged 11 to 17 at the time have alleged that a prostitution ring had been operating out of Future Electronics, the company that Miller owned at the time. He has since sold the company after allegations against him came out.

The suit alleges that from 1994 to 2006 Miller exploited about 100 victims who were underage at the time. Those of his employees who are mentioned in the suit are alleged to have aided Miller by recruiting, housing, and transporting young girls. Poulet is said to have acted as Miller’s procurer, with some of the plaintiffs saying that he’d even assault them to test them before bringing them to Miller.

In June, another Miller accomplice, 68-year-old Teresita Fuentes, who lives at the same Westmount address as Miller, asked for her case to be delayed. Fuentes faces charges similar to Poulet. n

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Judge stays proceedings against Robert Miller

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

Robert Miller appeared in court, Monday, via video link, too sick and too frail with Parkinson’s and heart disease.

In Quebec Superior Court, Miller’s lawyer, Isabella Teolis, argued before Justice Lyne Décarie calling for a stay of proceedings in the criminal cases Miller is facing, citing the disgraced billionnaire’s health issues.

His deteriorating health was attested to by six physicians, including a court-appointed neurologist.

Crown prosecutor Delphine Mauger agreed with the defense.

Justice Décarie has agreed to the request.

A stay of proceedings is not an acquittal, the judge explained.

As is now well known, Miller is facing several sex charges stemming from allegations that he recruited and paid underage girls for sex. Those encounters took place in hotels, and in Miller’s Westmount home.

“Sexual exploitation crime concerns itself with human dignity,” Mauger said in court, particularly the human dignity of the minor victims. She pointed out that the eleven victims in the cases were between 14 and 18 years of age. Some younger than 14. “Their human dignity deserves to be honoured and respected,” Mauger said.

She then acknowledged that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees “rights to life, security, and human dignity,” even that of the accused.

“Mr. Miller is gravely ill with no change of recovery,” she said, accepting that he is too sick and frail to make it through a trial. “We agree that there is no other remedy than a stay of proceedings.”

The judge acknowledged that Miller’s health will not improve, so a postponement of the trial would not be in order. However, the stay of proceedings does not apply to all the cases in which Miller is named as the defendant. There is a case that was filed last spring but that only made it to court last week. In that case the stay does not apply.

As of last May 2024 Miller faced 18 charges including sexual assault. He faced similar charges brought up in December. n

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Westmount’s Miller to face judge and jury

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

A week after accused sex offender Robert Miller appealed the class action suit against him, the billionaire has opted, through his lawyers, for a trial by judge and jury in the three criminal cases against him.

Miller is 81 and said to be bedridden, too sick to appear in court.

Last Tuesday his lawyers, Isabella Teolis and Nicolas St-Jacques of the Roy, St-Jacques, Teolis law firm, appeared at the Montreal courthouse for a hearing. Teolis asked for a preliminary hearing in two of the three cases, to determine if there is enough evidence for the cases to go to trial. Preliminary hearings or preliminary inquiries are held, in Canada, for an indictable offense that is punishable by 14 years or more in prison.

As is now well-known, the Westmount resident stands accused of several sex charges involving women who say that they had been recruited by Miller, through accomplices, and paid for sex when they were minors. The cases are said to have taken place between 1994 and 2016. The plaintiffs allege they had been brought to hotel rooms, or in some cases to Miller’s home.

Miller was arrested in May of 2024. An accomplice, 67-year-old Teresita Fuentes, was arrested days later. The Sexual Exploitation Section of the Montreal Police Department charged her with one count of pimping. Police said at the time that her arrest was in connection to one of the (then) 10 victims linked in the charges against Miller. The charge against Fuentes, who is said to be a resident of the same Westmount address as Miller, alleges that she acted as a procurer or a pimp for Miller who did “recruit, hold, conceal or harbour a person who offers or provides/exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person who offers or provides sexual services for consideration.” She also asked for a trial by judge and jury. The case against her returns to court in May.

Miller is the former owner of Future Electronics, which he sold in 2023 when allegations against him came to light. n

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Miller appeals class action decision

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

by Dan Laxer
The Suburban

Robert Miller, accused of several counts of sex charges perpetrated against at least 46 alleged victims, is appealing a Superior Court decision to allow a class action suit against him to go forward.

The decision was rendered by Judge Catherine Piché last January 14, as reported in The Suburban. Miller’s lawyers filed the appeal in the late afternoon of February 19.

The billionaire’s legal team is saying the judge made several errors, particularly in allowing anonymous testimony from Miller’s alleged victims. They argue that the judge should rather have stuck to the three original accusations.

The appeal says that the judge’s ruling failed to find enough commonalities to justify the class action, which names not only Miller, but his former company, Future Electronics, along with three alleged cohorts – Helmut Lippmann, Sam Abrams, and Raymond Poulet.

This is in addition to the four civil suits and the 24 criminal counts that Miller is facing.

In her ruling, Judge Piché says that there were about 100 victims, all minors between the age of 11 and 17, selected for Miller and brought to him at hotel rooms. They were given money, clothing, jewellery, or even trips.

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Court approves class action suit against Robert Miller

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

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

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Court puts liens on Westmount homes of Robert Miller

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

Two houses in Westmount belonging to Robert Miller, one of which is said to be the billionaire’s own residence, have been seized by Quebec Superior Court.

Legal liens were placed on the houses by order of Justice Serge Gaudet. The step is being taken as part of civil lawsuits for four women who allege that when they were underage Miller recruited and paid them for sex.

Several such allegations against Miller began to surface starting in February of last year. When the allegations came out in the media, Miller stepped down as head of Future Electronics, citing health concerns. Last month his defence lawyer claimed Miller was bedridden.

The original allegations against Miller were actually being investigated as far back as 2009, with cases alleged to have taken place going back to 1992 with girls as young as 14. No criminal charges were filed.

The move to place the liens on Miller’s homes is not the usual procedure, as the lawsuits before the courts are actually pending. But the plaintiff’s lawyers, worried that the homes could be unloaded before the cases proceed, asked for the court to take this step. Justice Gaudet agreed.It is said that Miller apparently has no bank accounts in his name, but that there may be others endeavouring to “hide assets in Miller’s name,” which Gaudet says is “troubling.” Also, in a class-action lawsuit last year there was a request to freeze Miller’s assets, or that he be ordered to deposit $200 million in the event that the court ruled in favour of the complainants. The judge in that case, Justice Eleni Yiannakis, denied the request.

The lawsuits also names former Future Electronics executive Sam Abrams who, it is alleged, managed bank accounts for Miller for years. It refers to “the Miller network,” organized to recruit “underage girls in order to satisfy the sexual urges of Robert Miller,” with the help of individuals within the company. In an earlier lawsuit Abrams was referred as “the Matchmaker.” The current suit names him as Miller’s “right hand man.”

One of the houses ordered seized has been valued at more than $2.3 million, and the other at more than $2.1 million. One is owned by a numbered company. The other by Robert Gerald Miller Holdings Inc. Both of the homes are located on Olivier Ave. in Westmount.

Earlier this year Future Electonics was sold to a Taiwan-based company for $3.8 billion U.S. Miller is now considered to be one of the two wealthiest people in Quebec. The 81-year-old was arrested earlier this year. He faces a host of charges, including sexual assault, procuring, sexual exploitation, sexual interference and sexual intercourse with a minor, involving ten victims. n

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Pointe Claire businessman denied stay on sex charges

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

Pointe-Claire billionaire businessman Robert Miller’s request to stay the charges related to sexual crime allegations made by 10 women and girls against him was denied by a Quebec Superior Court judge.

Miller’s lawyers argued that moving forward with the judicial process violates his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to defend himself stating that he is incapable of doing so given his state of health. Now 80 years old, Miller reportedly suffers from advanced Parkinson’s disease and is bedridden with round the clock medical care. “The applicant is not capable of participating in a criminal trial, as this would cause significant harm to his health. He is not and will never be able to defend himself,” his legal representation stated.

Justice François Dadour ruled that the current procedural steps do not require Miller to appear in person, nor to oppose the charges while it was acknowledged that the Miller case will be long and complex due to the number of complainants and the time lapses attached to some of the allegations made against him. “In an unqualified future, Mr. Miller’s condition may raise some specifically urgent issues or interfere with his fair trial rights in ways that could bring the Superior Court to then intervene by virtue of its fundamental role and inherent power to enforce individual rights.”

Miller is facing twenty-one charges, including sexual assault, obtaining sexual services for consideration and several counts of sexual exploitation of minors. n

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