PlexCoin debacle: Dominic Lacroix sentenced to three and a half years in prison

Dominic Lacroix, the founder of the virtual currency PlexCoin with which thousands of investors were cheated, was sentenced Thursday to 3 and a half years of imprisonment.

• Also read: PlexCoin debacle: the Crown demands a 50-month sentence and $6.8 million fine for Dominic Lacroix

• Also read: PlexCoin debacle: Dominic Lacroix found guilty of cheating investors out of around $15M

“Analysis of the evidence establishes that the defendant greatly planned and developed a sophisticated plan aimed at deceiving investors living all over the world,” Judge Steve Magnan ruled on Thursday, putting an end to this legal saga lasting several years. .

Lacroix, 42, was found guilty in December of the three charges against him for illegal investments without a prospectus both in Quebec and abroad and for having conveyed false information about these investments.

These offenses under the Securities Act were accused of by the Financial Markets Authority (AFM), leading to the opening of his trial in January 2023.

The organization’s prosecutors demanded the imposition of a total detention sentence of 50 months for the accused, accompanied by a fine of $6.8 million.

The accused, for his part, estimated that a fine totaling $4 million would be sufficient and, in the event of imprisonment, a sentence not exceeding 90 days in prison.

Ultimately, the court opted for a much lower fine of $150,000 on one of the three counts.

Summoned to go to the palace

Thursday’s day got off to a bad start for the fallen entrepreneur who would have preferred to attend the reading of the decision by the judge remotely.

“Why is he not here?” exclaimed the magistrate, noting that Lacroix was not physically present in the room but was rather connected to the hearing by videoconference.

“It was for medical reasons for my intestinal problem that we have not yet found the source. In fact, my problem is that I always have to be near a bathroom,” explained the litigant.

“There are some here at the courthouse,” the judge replied dryly, ordering him to come in person within the next hour.

“Vast humbug”

The launch of the PlexCoin cryptocurrency, intended to compete with Bitcoin, made it possible to raise more than $10 million from investors who were promised incredible returns of up to 1,354%.

Lacroix suggested that his company PlexCorp operated from Singapore, but in reality it was a “vast hoax”. The company employed less than 10 people who worked from Quebec, the magistrate recalled Thursday.

“The defendant lied to thousands of people he solicited around the world,” noted the judge, seeing “no mitigating factor” in his regard.

He insisted that Lacroix knew his obligations very well since he had already been convicted in the past of misleading investors.

More details to come…