Cinar founder Weinberg granted full parole on 9-year sentence
Convicted on fraud and forgery charges, which led to collapse of animation studio
Ronald Weinberg, the man who co-founded what was once Canada’s largest animation production company, has been granted full parole on the sentence he is serving for having defrauded investors in his firm.
On Friday, the Parole Board of Canada released a written summary of a decision it made on April 26, granting Weinberg the full release on the nearly nine-year sentence he received in June 2016. At its peak, Weinberg’s Montreal-based company, Cinar, produced popular animated children’s shows like Arthur and Caillou.
Following the longest criminal trial in Canadian history, Weinberg, now 67, was convicted of three counts of fraud, five counts related to forgery and one count of creating a false prospectus in 1999 that hid information from investors.
Weinberg and his accomplice, John Xanthoudakis, the former president of Norshield Financial Group, transferred more than US$123 million of Cinar’s money to the Bahamas without informing its board of directors, thereby keeping it a secret from shareholders. Lino Matteo, the former head of Mount Real Corp., was brought in later to help hide the fraud when questions were raised. All three men were convicted in the same trial.
The fraud led to the collapse of Cinar and the loss of retirement savings for thousands of investors.
According to the written summary of the parole decision, Weinberg continues to “show indifference towards the investors.”
It appears that Weinberg might be allowed to leave the halfway house where he was ordered to reside, while he is currently on day parole, before a decision will be made on the appeal he and his accomplices have filed in their case. Xanthoudakis was sentenced to an eight-year prison term but he has been released on bail while his appeal is pending. Matteo was also sentenced to an eight-year prison term and managed to be released on bail as well.
However, in September, a judge ordered that Matteo begin serving a five-year sentence he received following his conviction in a different fraud scheme involving Mount Real Corp.
The summary of the parole board’s decision does not state when Weinberg’s full parole will begin. The board attached three conditions to his release, including one that prohibits him from being in a position of “responsibility, paid or unpaid, for the management of finances or investments of any other individual, charity, business or institution.”
The Quebec Court of Appeal heard arguments in the appeals of all three men on April 8.
The judges are currently deliberating on the matter. Unlike Xanthoudakis and Matteo, Weinberg opted to begin serving his time behind bars before the appeal was heard.