Plaintiffs’ lawyer asks to freeze Robert Miller’s assets

Open in full screen mode

Me Jeff Orenstein represents the plaintiffs in a motion to bring a class action against Mr. Miller. (Archive photo)

The Canadian Press

Feature being tested

Log inCreate my account

Voice synthesis, based on artificial intelligence, allows you to generate text spoken from a written text.

Lawyer for women who say Robert Miller paid them for sex when they were minors wants court to freeze tens of millions of dollars in man's assets Montreal businessman.

Mr. Jeff Orenstein represents these women in a motion to bring a class action against Mr. Miller. In Superior Court in Montreal, the lawyer said he feared that the businessman would hide the proceeds from the upcoming sale of his company, Future Electronics, which will amount to 5.2 billion dollars.

Mr. Orenstein told the court he wanted Mr. Miller and Future Electronics to deposit a total of $200 million as security with the court. If this is not done, the lawyer asks the court to freeze the assets of Mr. Miller and Future Electronics, but also those of a number of companies and individuals who are linked .

Robert Miller has denied the allegations against him.

His lawyer, Karim Renno, told the court there was no evidence his client would attempt to hide his assets. He maintains that the court order requested by Mr. Orenstein would target people who are not even named in the requested class action.

Mr. Renno also believes that this request is so broad that it would even prevent Mr. Miller from buying a chocolate bar.

On several occasions, Judge Eleni Yiannakis called the two lawyers to order, questioning their assertions and telling them that their arguments were irrelevant to her questions. At the start of Friday's hearing, she reprimanded Mr. Orenstein after he said he was prepared to call three of Mr. Miller's alleged victims as surprise witnesses.

< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">Although the judge said she was sensitive to the sexual assault allegations and said she took them seriously, she added that #x27;a freeze of assets at this time would constitute an extreme remedy.

Mr. Orenstein said that since filing the case, his office has heard from 50 women who say they were victims of Mr. Miller's sexual misconduct over a 30-year period beginning in the 1970s, and that some were as young as 11 at the time of the alleged crimes.

Forty-one alleged victims have made statements describing their allegations, he noted, adding that he expects more women to come forward.

He said the court should order the asset freeze because Mr. Miller knows he is going to lose and is preparing to hide his money. “It's very clear that we will win our case at trial,” Orenstein told the court.

Three other women have filed independent lawsuits making allegations similar cases against Mr. Miller.

Mr. Renno told the court that he wanted to remind, in particular the lawyer who keeps saying that he It was a sure victory that these allegations were the subject of a successful police investigation in 2009. Mr Miller was not acquitted, nor was he convicted. wasn't even charged, he said.

Mr. Orenstein said his request for the defendant to deposit $200 million with the court is based on the amount his clients would receive if they were successful in the proposed action. collective.

She is seeking $2.5 million in damages on behalf of the first woman to come forward, who claims she was 17 when she was paid for sex with Mr. Miller. Some women, he explained, were under 17 at the time of the alleged exploitation; others, he added, were exploited by Mr. Miller over a longer period.

Mr. Renno said he estimated that the amount of 200 million made no sense. The $2.5 million claim is absolutely ridiculous, he told the court. Seven-year-old girls who were repeatedly raped by clergy receive $150,000 in damages.

Judge Yiannakis said that it planned to announce its decision in a week and that it did not plan to freeze the sale of Future Electronics.

The case, which was filed in February, still needs clearance from a judge before it can be treated as a class action.