CORNWALL – Disgraced former Cornwall financial advisor Gilles Saucier – already spending time in jail for investment fraud – will be serving more prison time once his first sentence is complete.
Saucier was sentenced today (Thursday) to a further two-and-a-half years in prison for defrauding six clients and a bank for a total of $317,656 over a period of seven years, starting in 2010. Each client lost between $10,500 and $189,153.
He had earlier pled guilty to seven counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of using forged documents.
The former president of the now-defunct Gilden Financial Solutions has been serving a 15 month jail sentence, since January, after being found guilty following a lengthy trial of defrauding 10 clients over three years.
In the first case, the clients got their money back, sometimes with interest. But in this case, the half dozen clients and the bank are empty handed.
Judge Diane Lahaie found it a particularly damning that Saucier had committed the second set of frauds after he was charged in the first case and released on a court order to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
“Your plea of guilty, the absence of restitution and the fact that you committed the greater majority of these fraudulent acts after you were charged and released on conditions in relation to the earlier matters are the most significant features which distinguish this case from your convictions in Superior Court,” Lahaie said.
The 58-year-old Saucier, wearing a grey suit and a white shirt, showed no emotion in the prisoner’s box as the sentence was being read. At least one of the victims in the packed gallery cried as the judge recounted the fallout of Saucier’s actions on his clients.
Lahaie said the impact of the losses for the victims was “profound” and the victim impact statements were “moving and demonstrate the impact of your callous acts on your victims.”
While the Superior Court of Justice already made the order in June during sentencing, the Ontario Court of Justice doubled down with another lifetime order, banning Saucier from trading or working in securities.
Restitution orders for the $317,656 were also granted that would be “payable immediately.”
“The intention of this court is to allow the victims to file these orders as judgments without any further delay,” Lahaie said.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected from an earlier version to correct the name of the judge. Diane Lahaie presided over the sentencing, not Laurie Lacelle. Lacelle handled Saucier’s Ontario Superior Court of Justice case.