WARNING: This text comprises graphic content material and will have an effect on those that have skilled sexual violence or know somebody affected by it.
4 extra girls have joined a class-action lawsuit alleging Montreal billionaire Robert Miller commonly paid minors for intercourse, and one of many latest plaintiffs says she was solely 11 years outdated throughout her first sexual encounter with him.
A complete of 39 girls have now joined the class-action lawsuit, which has not but been approved.
Three different particular person lawsuits have additionally been filed, all by girls who declare that Miller sexually exploited them after they have been minors. The businessman denies all of the allegations towards him.
Affidavits from the newest alleged victims have been filed Monday by Client Regulation Group. The agency is main the category motion on behalf of ladies who say they have been recruited after they have been minors and given money and items in trade for intercourse with Miller between 1992 and 2016.
In line with her affidavit, the girl who mentioned she was 11 when she first met Miller was recruited in 1999 by two older women who have been on the lookout for virgins for “Bob.”
“It was summer season and I had simply completed Grade 6,” wrote the girl who, like different plaintiffs within the case, was not named within the court docket filings.
She mentioned she went to Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Resort together with her greatest pal, additionally 11, to fulfill Miller for the primary time.
“After we received there, earlier than coming into the room, I received scared and began crying,” she wrote.
Raymond Poulet, who reportedly helped recruit the younger girls, greeted her and introduced the 2 younger women to Miller, who supplied them alcohol, the girl wrote.
“He requested me how outdated I used to be, and I advised him I used to be 11,” she wrote in her affidavit. Miller than allegedly had unprotected intercourse with the 2 women and, afterwards, handed every of them an envelope containing $5,000 in money.
In February, when Radio-Canada’s Enquête first revealed the allegations towards Miller, his lawyer mentioned in a letter that his shopper has by no means had sexual relations with an individual under the age of consent which, on the time of the alleged occasions, was 14.
It was bumped from 14 to 16 in 2008, underneath Stephen Harper’s Conservative authorities.
Consent is void nevertheless when sexual contact with a minor is paid for and the act is taken into account unlawful. Within the context the place the sufferer is 11 years outdated, consent can’t be given and it’s thought-about sexual assault.
Robert Miller’s legal professionals didn’t reply to questions from Enquête for this story on the time of publishing.
‘I nonetheless have nightmares’
After her preliminary assembly on the Queen Elizabeth Resort, she met with Miller some 30 extra instances, at lodges and in his Westmount houses, till she was 20, in line with her affidavit.
She wrote that every assembly netted her quite a few items and an envelope containing $5,000. The billionaire additionally needed to compensate her by paying for journeys, “however since I used to be very younger, it was slightly sophisticated.”
Satisfied that Miller had her greatest pursuits at coronary heart, she even launched him to her mom.
“I advised her I might met a gentleman who was going to assist us,” she wrote. “The three of us ate collectively at his place, and he gave us an envelope with $10,000 in it.”
She mentioned she discovered herself in a cycle that was onerous to interrupt, continually recruiting different women for Miller. To today, she feels regret for having launched her personal associates to “Bob” and suffers important psychological harm as a result of occasions.
“I had lots of shallowness and aggression issues,” she wrote in her affidavit. “I nonetheless have nightmares and may’t sleep effectively.”
When she was 11, the older women who had recruited her additionally equipped her with cocaine that she would use earlier than her conferences with Miller, she wrote, and she or he developed an dependancy.
The girl mentioned she was approached by police in 2009.
She mentioned investigators handled her like a perpetrator, slightly than a sufferer and she or he was too scared to confide within the authorities.
“They tried to contact me two or 3 times, however finally Bob’s lawyer talked to them and so they left me alone,” she wrote.
Featured VideoAllegations a Canadian billionaire paid teenagers for intercourse.
Movement to freeze Miller’s property
Final February, Enquête revealed Miller had spent years paying underage teenage women in trade for intercourse.
Because the launch of the report, Miller has had a number of lawsuits filed towards him: three particular person fits, through which a complete of almost $30 million is sought, and an software for authorization of a category motion, for which Client Regulation Group hopes to acquire a median of $4 million per sufferer.
“We count on not less than 50 folks to affix the category motion,” wrote Jeff Orenstein of Client Regulation Group in an e-mail to Radio-Canada.
“Contemplating the compensatory and punitive damages claims for every alleged sufferer, we estimate that we are going to want $200 million Canadian to honour a beneficial judgment.”
On Monday afternoon, the legal professionals heading the class-action go well with took steps to freeze the billionaire’s property in an effort to make sure that the alleged victims can be compensated ought to they win their case in court docket.
Attorneys have filed an software for a Mareva injunction to put aside $200 million of Miller’s fortune. The movement will likely be heard on Nov. 2.
“A Mareva injunction restricts an individual’s potential to eliminate property held anyplace on the planet,” mentioned Orenstein. “We ask the court docket to guard the members of the group from this unfair scenario.”
The movement alleges, amongst different issues, that Miller can’t be discovered. The bailiffs answerable for serving the category motion towards the billionaire have been unable to contact him and have needed to undergo his legal professionals.
Client Regulation Group additionally argues that Miller and his group took quite a few steps to hide the businessman’s property.
A number of weeks after the Enquête report aired in February, Miller allegedly transferred his luxurious Westmount dwelling, valued at $9.5 million, to a shell firm run by his son for the sum of $1.
One among Miller’s legal professionals additionally allegedly advised a plaintiff with whom he wished to settle out of court docket that he may solely provide her $72,000, because the billionaire’s cash was tied up in his firm.
The corporate in query, Future Electronics, was offered for over $5 billion in September, a transaction that’s anticipated to be finalized in 2024. Orenstein maintains that this sum won’t essentially be deposited in a Canadian checking account, and due to this fact not essentially accessible to the victims.
Orenstein says he has contacted a number of authorities businesses, together with the Canadian and Quebec justice ministries in addition to a number of members of Parliament, in hopes that regulators will pressure Future Electronics to deposit the proceeds of its sale in Canada.
“We imagine that, if the sale of Future Electronics goes forward with out circumstances or constraints, there’s a threat that the plaintiffs won’t obtain compensation, even within the occasion of a beneficial judgment,” he mentioned.
Help is accessible for anybody who has been sexually assaulted. You’ll be able to entry disaster traces and native assist providers by this Authorities of Canada web site or the Ending Violence Affiliation of Canada database. For those who’re in quick hazard or worry on your security or that of others round you, please name 911.
