CINAR CO-FOUNDER GETS NINE YEARS IN FRAUD CASE.

• The judge who presided over t he longest criminal trial ever brought before a jury in Canada has sentenced Cinar cofounder Ronald Weinberg to a nine- year sentence for defrauding the shareholders of the company he created.

Superior Court Justice Pierre Labrie said on Wednesday it was clear Weinberg played “a leading role” in how more than $123 million U. S. was sent to the Bahamas without the knowledge of Cinar’s shareholders. The money represented 80 per cent of the entertainment company’s liquid assets when the fraud was committed in the late 1990s. Weinberg had signed the approval for $109 million worth of wire transfers that were made.

A jury found Weinberg guilty on several counts related to the fraud this month in a trial that began in 2014.

The defence had asked for a five- year sentence while noting that Weinberg had paid back $ 15 million to Cinar’s shareholders and paid $ 2 million as part of a class-action suit. Crown prosecutor Matthew Ferguson had requested a 10-year sentence.

Labrie listed the sophisticated nature of the fraud and i ts i mpact on many shareholders as aggravating factors in determining the sentence. The judge also took into account Weinberg’s age — he turned 65 on Sunday — and the fact he still has the support of his family as factors in determining the sentence. But Labrie also said the length of the fraud trial should not be a mitigating factor in the sentence.

Labrie said it was difficult to determine how much Cinar’s shareholders lost in all because he calculated that $ 93 million was eventually returned to Cinar Corp.

Labrie sentenced one of Weinberg’s accomplices in the fraud scheme — John Xanthoudakis — to an eightyear sentence.

Lino Matteo, the other accomplice in the f raud scheme, was also sentenced to eight years.

The Crown had recommended a sentence of 9 to 10 years for Matteo, who acted as his own lawyer in the case. Matteo suggested a 42-month sentence would be more appropriate.

Matteo, former CEO of Mount Real Corp., said during sentencing arguments that when he entered into the picture, Cinar’s money was already in the Bahamas and that he only played “an advisory role” in what happened afterward.

He also argued he did not benefit financially from the fraud committed and that only $ 6 million was not returned to shareholders as opposed to more than $ 30 million as the Crown claimed during the trial.

Labrie described Matteo’s role in the fraud as that of “a mercenary” brought in for his experience in accounting to help Weinberg and Xanthoudakis hide what had happened from shareholders.