Failed franchisee arrested in Cora case
Others may be involved, police say
A failed franchise owner of Chez Cora restaurants is expected to be charged Wednesday with the kidnapping and forcible confinement of the president of the breakfast chain, Nicholas Tsouflidis, 18 months ago.
Paul Zaidan, 49, who is believed to have lost his franchise in 2014, allegedly used a fake gun to force Tsouflidis out of his home in Mirabel and into the trunk of a car, in an alleged bid to hold him for ransom.
Tsouflidis, the youngest son of company founder Cora Mussely Tsouflidou, was allegedly held overnight before being left, still tied up, in a ditch in Laval on the morning of March 9, 2017. A passerby found him.
The seven accusations listed on warrants for Zaidan’s arrest also include threatening to use violence against the victim’s children if he should call the police, and “using threats, accusations or violence” to force Cora Tsouflidou to pay a sum of money for her son’s liberation.
Zaidan is also accused of stealing from Tsouflidis a safe containing less than $5,000.
Zaidan was arrested by provincial police at his home in Laval Tuesday morning.
In a written statement issued several hours later, Tsouflidis, who was 44 at the time of the kidnapping, said he was relieved an arrest had been made.
“This past year has been a trying one,” he said. “As far as I am concerned, it seems to have been a sole and isolated incident. Chez Cora, it’s zero tolerance when it comes to violence. I am persuaded that all of our employees and franchisees, who are at the heart of our success, join me in condemning the act that was committed.”
Tsouflidis, who became president of the company in 2008, thanked the Mirabel police and the Sûreté du Québec for their work, and said he had confidence that as the case wound its way through the courts, the reasons that motivated the suspect would become clear.
Police said other arrests may be made in connection with the case.
In one of the more embarrassing aspects of the case — for both the police and the kidnappers — Tsouflidis was reportedly able to phone 911 from the trunk of the car, and with the use of his smartphone, tell dispatchers exactly where he was.
But after half an hour on the phone, during which time he was asked to spell his last name and was transferred from one police service to another, the call was cut off for unknown reasons. Tsouflidis was not rescued. Instead, he was reportedly found by passersby, clambering out of a snowbank.