Robert Miller | Two houses seized as collateral despite its billions

Use of nominees to hide his assets, absence of a bank account listed in his name: the “troubling” financial arrangements of billionaire Robert Miller are pushing the justice system to take strong measures. A judge ordered the preventive seizure of two of the octogenarian’s homes, to ensure that at least part of his assets remain available if he is ordered to compensate four women who accuse him of sexual abuse.

The seizure before judgment has just been authorized by Superior Court judge Serge Gaudet, at the request of four women who say they were recruited into a juvenile prostitution network in the service of the Montreal businessman while they were minors.

The four plaintiffs are each seeking several million dollars in damages from Mr. Miller, certain of his collaborators and the Montreal company of which he was president, Future Electronics.

Mr. Miller resigned as president of the multinational in 2023, the day after the broadcast of a - report which cited several women who said they had paid sexual relations with him when they were minors.

Robert Miller, who was already a billionaire and one of the richest men in Canada, then sold Future Electronics to a Taiwan firm for $5.1 billion.

He was targeted by a request for class action, several individual prosecutions, in addition to being arrested by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) and charged with a host of counts for sexual crimes committed between 1994 and 2017 on 10 women, including 8 minors.

A billionaire without a bank account?

Since the start of the businessman’s setbacks, several revelations about his financial arrangements have sowed concern among women who wish to be compensated.

In March, his right-hand man Sam Abrams testified under oath during a Superior Court hearing that his boss never had a bank account.

“Mr. Miller does not have a bank account. Not a single one! “, launched Mr. Abrams.

The witness explained that he himself kept an account at the Royal Bank of Canada, in his name, for decades, for the benefit of his boss, whose name was not listed anywhere.

“As Mr. Miller does not have a bank account, Future Electronics regularly transferred money into this account. It was essentially a personal account for Mr. Miller. When Mr. Miller takes money from Future Electronics, Future Electronics [attribue] money, and he pays taxes on that money personally,” he said.

Sam Abrams did not provide concrete proof of the lack of a bank account in Mr. Miller’s name. There are many opaque states around the world where the exchange of banking information with Canada is difficult.

Furthermore, the denunciations of women who say they have been victims of abuse have made it possible to discover two houses in Westmount which belong to Mr. Miller, but which were owned until recently by numbered companies allowing the identity of the owner. The four women suing Robert Miller claimed in court that these numbered companies were run by “nominees” who were lawyers at the renowned Norton Rose firm: M^e Wilfrid Lefebvre et M^e Jules Charrette.

Faced with all these arrangements, the judge determined that it was justified to order the seizure of the two houses in Westmount, valued at $2.2 and $2.4 million respectively, in order to ensure that certain assets of Mr. Miller remains available, should the women’s damages suit be successful.

Judge Gaudet considers that there is an “objective fear” regarding the recovery of a debt from Mr. Miller, “since it is disturbing to note that the defendant, a billionaire, has no bank account in his name and that moreover, there is persistent and significant use of nominees, which obviously has the consequence of concealing the assets of the defendant Miller which are in his name.”

Mr. Miller owns another residence of greater value on Summit Crescent, still in Westmount, which is not subject to the seizure.

The procedure took place “ex parte” before the court, that is to say in the absence of Mr. Miller’s representatives. They deplored this way of doing things on Monday.

“It is deplorable that the plaintiffs chose to proceed in the absence of the defendants and without giving them the opportunity to make representations. We are very confident that the seizures will be quickly quashed once the defendants have had the opportunity to address the Court,” said Mr.^e Karim Renno, representative of Robert Miller.

New allegations of abuse against teenage girls

The four women who demanded the preventive seizure of the billionaire’s properties are represented by M^e Jean-Philippe Caron, M^e Gabriel Bois and M^e Janique Soucy, from CaLex Légal. Two of them had never come forward publicly and just launched damages suits last week.

The first, identified simply by the initials EF, claims to have been placed in a youth center at 14 and to have been recruited to offer sexual services to Robert Miller at the same time.

“From her first meeting with Robert Miller, the plaintiff therefore had a complete sexual relationship with the latter, although she was a minor at the time of the facts, information which was then known to Robert Miller,” specifies the lawsuit. . The woman says she received $1,000 for this meeting, which was followed by several others over the years.

“The combination of her excessive drug consumption and the feelings of guilt and disgust she felt towards herself given her activities within the Miller Network pushed the plaintiff to make a first suicide attempt at the age of 15 years, with the aim of freeing itself from the Miller Network,” continues the motion filed in Superior Court.

The second woman who launched a chase last week is identified by the initials GH

In her motion filed at the Montreal courthouse, she says she was raised by a single mother who worked two jobs to provide for her family.

Just before his 15th^e birthday, she agreed to meet Robert Miller, who welcomed her to the hotel by kissing her on the mouth.

“Then, Robert Miller accompanied Plaintiff to the bed, where a towel, lubricant, and sex toys were exposed,” the motion continues. She says she received $1,500 for the first of many full-length sexual encounters. The amount was impressive for her.

She claims to have fallen under the influence of the businessman. “At the age of 16, the plaintiff moved into an apartment and dropped out of high school; Robert Miller, aware of the plaintiff’s situation, reassured her by telling her that he would help her, particularly financially. »

“However, this assistance was conditional on sexual relations,” we read in the lawsuit.

Since the beginning of this saga, Mr. Miller has claimed to be the target of false allegations. “Mr Miller strongly and vehemently denies the malicious allegations made against him and confirms that they are false and completely unsubstantiated and were raised following an acrimonious divorce. They are now being repeated for financial gain,” its representatives explained in a statement last year.

Several dozen other plaintiffs have asked to join a class action against Robert Miller, but they have not obtained a seizure before judgment at this stage.