MONTREAL — The Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) announced Thursday the arrest of Montreal billionaire Robert Miller.
He was arrested at his Westmount home around 4 p.m. on Thursday by arrest warrant for charges related to events of a sexual nature that took place between 1994 and 2016.
In total, the 80-year-old man faces 21 charges, including sexual exploitation, obtaining sexual services for payment, pimping, inducing prostitution and sexual intercourse with a minor against retribution.
These accusations are linked to ten victims, some of whom were minors at the time of the events, the SPVM announced in a press conference on Thursday.
Miller maintained his innocence again in a statement sent Thursday evening, saying the case is motivated by obtaining “easy financial gain.” “Mr. Miller will vigorously protect his reputation, fight for the truth and refute these false allegations with equal determination,” he said, speaking of himself in the third person.
An investigation into the actions of Robert Miller had already been carried out by the police force in 2009, but at that time, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions had made the decision not to move forward with the case. “At the time, we did not have the events to perhaps point to guilt,” explained the SPVM specialized investigations inspector, Karine Paquette.
These accusations come as the SPVM claims to have been working with “several” new information since February 2023, following a report from the Radio-Canada show Enquête on the subject.
“This long-term investigation is not over,” said Karine Paquette, while emphasizing the courage of the victims throughout the investigation. In addition to the ten victims, the SPVM also met several other people and other charges could be filed.
Inspector David Shane invited any victim or witness of sexual exploitation related to this case or any other similar event to contact the Sexual Exploitation Section of the SPVM.
The state of health of Robert Miller, former owner of the multinational Future Electronics, has deteriorated in recent years, a neurologist having affirmed last January that the billionaire suffered from advanced Parkinson’s disease, but that he had normal cognitive abilities for a person of his age. Miller maintains that his state of health is “extremely fragile”, that he is permanently bedridden and that his state of health prevents him from defending himself.
Ms. Paquette said Miller’s state of health did not change the work her team had to accomplish. “We have victims who had the courage to file a complaint, to denounce what they experienced despite the time that has passed since 2009 or even before. So regardless of Mr. Miller’s state of health, we had a job to do and we did it,” she said.
Robert Miller was released and will appear in court on July 3.
