Robert Miller in court: “It's the right swing of the pendulum”
Several victims are delighted with the class action lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Quebec billionaire and Future Electronics. And they intend to join.
Robert G. Miller
The class action request that has just been filed at the Montreal courthouse against Robert Miller comforts several victims of the businessman and founder of Future Electronics. Those we spoke to support the move and see it as an important step towards achieving some justice.
The action targets anyone who provided sexual services or was sexually exploited by Robert Miller when they were under the age of 18. The firm Groupe de droit des consommateurs is representing the initial complainant.
According to the allegations in the proceedings, the young woman was 17 years old when she met the billionaire with several other young girls in a Montreal hotel. After being chosen by the businessman, she allegedly had sex with him seven or eight times. Each time she received between $1,000 and $3,000.
It was by watching the report by Investigation to the English network of Radio-Canada that she would have realized the extent of the psychological consequences linked to this period of her life (depression, loss of self-esteem, use of drugs and alcohol).< /p>
The girl, who is identified only by her initials, is seeking $1 million in compensation for her psychological damages and an additional $1.5 million in punitive damages. She did not know the true identity of the man she called Bob Adams until the report The Miller System aired three weeks ago.
I think it's the right swing of the pendulum, reacts Sophie *, one of the alleged victims of Robert Miller who denounced the billionaire in a Inquiry report on February 2. He caused damage, and there must be repair, she adds.
The young woman was 14 at the time of her first sexual relationship with Robert Miller in 1999. Sophie also lives with the psychological consequences of this story, including a strong feeling of guilt for having agreed to recruit other young girls for him. .
Sophie intends to join the class action, like Genevieve *, another young woman who fell under the thumb of Robert Miller at the age of 14. I don't know why the Quebec taxpayer would pay with their taxes for the services I need because of this, she said. I spent money on a psychologist and a sexologist. I saw a social worker too. He has to pay for what he did.
Geneviève told her story to Enquête on February 9 in the report They called him Bob.
According to the plaintiff's lawyer, Jeff Orenstein, it is obvious that there is an individual side to the damages of each of the plaintiffs, which depends for example on the age they were at the time of the facts or the length of their relationship with Miller. It is, he says, too early to determine whether he will ask a judge to assess each case individually or create categories of plaintiffs.
Mr. Orenstein also requested a confidentiality order allowing the victims to remain anonymous at all stages of the class action, which must first pass the stage of judicial authorization.
The class action request also targets Future Electronics, the company founded by Robert Miller and whose management he left the day after the broadcast of the report. It cites several examples of Future employees allegedly assisting Mr. Miller in his system of recruiting young girls, by renting houses or hotel rooms, or by arranging trips. According to attorney Jeff Orenstein, these employees were acting under the orders of their boss, Robert Miller. And the law allows us to hold the company responsible for the damages, he adds.
In addition, several young women have also filed complaints with the City of Montreal (SPVM) and some provided video depositions to the investigators.
Recall that in 2010, a criminal investigation targeting the activities of Robert Miller had been closed without any charges. be filed.
Recall that the billionaire denied all the facts contained in the Inquiry report, stating that he had never had of having sex with people under the age of consent. He also specified that he had suffered from impotence for the past 20 years. At the time of publishing this article, Robert Miller and Future Electronics had not reacted to this new development.
*All victims requested anonymity to speak to us, for fear of consequences. Their names have therefore been replaced by fictitious names.
