Major theft at MELS studios

Criminals stole $700,000 worth of equipment after ‘fraudulent rental’

Last June, MELS studios were the victims of a major theft of cinematographic equipment with an estimated value of nearly $700,000, the incredible scenario of which could have been shot on its premises. The company is doing everything to find the perpetrators, but its chances of success are slim, says an expert.

A false company created a few days before, false identity cards: the scheme used by the criminals was elaborate, we conclude from the reading of legal documents filed at the Montreal courthouse in recent weeks.

At the beginning of June, MELS studios received an e-mail request from a man who was “particularly interested in renting anamorphic Cooke lenses”, high-end equipment used in the biggest American productions.

Exchanges ensue between the parties to settle the details: “rental conditions to be fulfilled, obtaining an insurance certificate, prior payments required”.

This last condition was met on June 19, when a company called Productions OMS paid the sum of $6,519 to MELS studios to formalize the deal.

A “completely false” statement

The next day, the individual allegedly behind the emails went to the studio gate to collect the equipment, which he had to return six days later, on June 26.

Confidence clearly reigns between the two parties since on that date, MELS studios agreed to extend the loan and even to provide another series of six lenses, always on the condition of payment in advance. This time, two accomplices of the first individual, presented as his technicians, come to recover the articles supposed to be reported on July 3.

On that date, noting that the lenses with an estimated value of approximately $700,000 had not been returned, MELS studios contacted their business partner, who assured them that they had returned them two days earlier. A “completely false” assertion, underline MELS studios in court documents.

This is the last time that the company, owned by Groupe TVA, will have been in contact with the criminals.

A cul-de-sac

A complaint was then filed with the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), which sent an officer to the scene the next day. The latter informs them that the driver’s license probably presented by the individual at the origin of the loan for the rental is in fact a forgery and that the identity of the man he claimed to be, a resident of Trois-Rivières , would have been usurped.

Contacted on Tuesday, the SPVM refused to confirm that a complaint had been filed or that an investigation had been opened “so as not to interfere with its progress”.

In the hope of finding their lenses, MELS studios entrusted the case to their legal department on July 5th. Two days later, their lawyers turned to the private security firm SIRCO “to identify and locate all those involved in this fraud and theft, in the hope of recovering the valuable equipment [leur] has been stolen “.

One of the lines of inquiry followed by SIRCO was linked to the bank transfers made by the individuals behind the theft, a few days before it was discovered.

However, by going to the address of Productions OMS, the company having made the payments, registered in the Register of Companies, they find themselves faced with a dead end. No trace of its owner or company in this anonymous apartment building in Montreal North.

Forcing the hand of BMO

The only remaining option: obtain from the Bank of Montreal (BMO), where the account used to make the two payments was opened, the contact details of its owner. However, the manager of the branch where the account is registered does not respond to emails from investigators.

In the hope of unblocking the case, the MELS studios therefore filed a request for a “Norwich” type injunction in the Superior Court. This type of request aims to force a third party, in this case BMO, to communicate information that it holds relating to an individual.

As the bank did not object, the injunction was granted by judge Enrico Forlini last Thursday. This is how the case became public.

The MELS studios hope, among other things, to be able to get their hands on images from surveillance cameras of the man behind the scheme or his accomplices in the event that they would have appeared in person to open the account.

“We confirm that MELS was the subject of a theft following a fraudulent rental of equipment. We are continuing our efforts and working with the authorities to find the thieves. We will make every effort to achieve this,” MELS studio management said Tuesday evening, adding that the event had “no impact on MELS operations.”

The evil is already done

But according to the president of the production house Cinéfilms, Christian Racine, informed of the details of the case like many others in the small world of the rental of advanced cinematographic equipment, the damage is already done.

” According to me, [les lentilles] are already used on another production,” he says, convinced that they are now in Asia or Eastern Europe, where there are thriving film industries, but lacking the means.

Tuesday, on the site of the company Cooke, manufacturer of six of the lenses stolen from the MELS studio, the serial numbers of these appeared at the top of a long list of articles of this kind stolen from around the world. . London, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, everywhere this high-end equipment seems to be the envy of thieves.

“I think there was a demand for it. It was a set-up, they probably prepared weeks or months in advance, a bit like in the movies, like in Impossible mission sighs Christian Racine.