The tragedy at Place D’Youville brought Émile Benamor, the controversial owner of the burnt down building, into the public eye. By turns flea market shareholder, hyperactive juvenile court lawyer and organized crime heavyweights representative, the man has crushed many toes over the course of his career. His pension fund: a real estate empire that includes a hostel, shops, luxury residences, numerous buildings whose accommodations are offered on Airbnb and a building where the money literally falls from the sky.
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In June 2020, following an emergency response, the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) recovered a bag containing nearly $200,000 in cash hidden in the duty room of a small building in Côte-des-Neiges and held by the three lawyers was acquired years earlier. The small storage room was inaccessible to the tenants.
“This amount has never been linked to anyone,” explained Me Alexandre Bergevin, Émile Benamor’s lawyer, who asserted that his client had absolutely no knowledge of the existence of this hidden treasure. However, since it was found in his building, “that amount should be returned to him”. “It’s not Mr. Benamor’s money, but that money was found in one of his buildings,” he continued.
It wasn’t the first time in Me Benamor’s career that the source of large sums of money raised questions. In 2021, the Quebec court fined him $136,000 for tax evasion after a conviction. He failed to report nearly $470,000 he received from a mysterious “fraudulent scheme” in a personal bank account. “The Canada Revenue Agency’s evidence does not show that when Mr. Benamor cashed the bills of exchange, he was aware that the funds originated from such a system,” the federal agency said. His lawyer points out that this is the only problem that the tax authorities have found despite a three-year audit of his accounts.
Since this conviction, his professional rights have been restricted: he is no longer allowed to practice tax law. And it can no longer accept interns from the Barreau du Quebec, the organization confirmed via email on Thursday.
“A Pension Fund”
“I start my day at 6:30 in my buildings because I have about fifteen to check out,” Émile Benamor told Montreal Municipal Court last December, adding that he has largely given up the practice of law. . The Montreal Fire Department blamed him for the poor condition of an emergency staircase. He was acquitted.
Today, the 60-year-old is at the helm of a small real estate empire consisting of around twenty properties, concentrated in Old Montreal and the West Island. Together they are estimated by the city at 27 million. “Like so many others, he bought buildings. He’s self-employed, so he doesn’t have a pension fund,” continued Me Alexandre Bergevin, lawyer for Émile Benamor. “He was thinking about building up a pension plan, that makes sense. »
PHOTO ULYSSE LEMERISE, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Office of Benamor Avocats, in 2012
The most expensive property: a mansion in Dorval, right on the banks of the St. Lawrence, which costs just under 4 million according to the municipal estimate. By the turn of the 2010s, Me Benamor was known among Montreal’s criminal defense attorneys for the big parties he organized there (Emile’s Mansion Parties), sometimes sponsored by a brand of energy drinks. “Security at the entrance. No drugs,” the attorney warned on an invitation extracted from a virtual archiving site.
The overflowing photos of the sun, sculpted bodies and cigars immediately made the rounds of the courthouse. Me Benamor’s divisive personality also got people talking, Me Bergevin acknowledges.
A disgusting personality
“It’s true that Émile has a somewhat Mediterranean temperament. It’s true that he’s a bit hot-blooded. But you will find as many people who adore him as there are people who hate him,” his attorney said. He added that his client is involved in philanthropy that he “helps organizations every day, I could provide you with a list”. “He’s the kind of person who will reach out for you when you’re his friend and you’re in trouble.” It’s becoming increasingly rare in the world we live in. »
However, this personality seems to have gotten him into trouble. A former tenant who lived in one of the buildings before the pandemic and asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals says Mr Benamor regularly inspected his apartments, often early in the morning. Occasionally he would persistently knock on doors so he could enter and inspect the premises.
In October 2019, a couple who rented one of his apartments on Rue Viger filed a harassment complaint against Mr Benamor with the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL), seeking $2,000 in punitive damages. The couple complained that they were facing “constant threats” of being evicted, changing the locks, cutting off the water and electricity and restricting visitors by the owner.
“We are threatened, intimidated, harassed and do not agree to this,” says the application form submitted by the two plaintiffs to the TAL. However, the couple, who did not respond to our interview requests, withdrew the appeal in March 2020.
Buster Freum, a former tenant who lived in the burned-out Place D’Youville building in 2015 and again in 2020, claims to have had an argument with his landlord over the condition of an “absolutely horrible building”.
“Émile has always been abusive and stingy,” Mr Freum said. He had complained to the Régie du Bâtiment, which, however, did not feel competent to examine the application.
Less fancy buildings
In addition to Villa Dorval, Émile Benamor’s real estate portfolio also includes two condominiums at 1000 rue de la Commune, a luxury building in Old Montreal overlooking the water. The lawyer has his habit at the area’s restaurants, notably in chic Muscadin, rue Saint-Vincent, where he has his napkin ring.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVE LA PRESSE
Municipal road 1000
Most of his other properties are otherwise less prestigious. Last month, the City of Westmount took the attorney to court for running an illegal dormitory on Saint-Antoine Street West whose sanitary conditions “could endanger the health and safety of residents.” A “strong odor of excrement” pervaded the building when the community inspector walked by and noted a continuing sewer jam. The procedures are still ongoing.
In the damaged building on Place D’Youville, authorities are trying to determine whether Me Benamor endangered the lives of its tenants or subtenants. Survivors of the tragedy said they never heard a fire alarm and revealed the existence of at least one bedroom with no windows.
PHOTO YVES TREMBLAY, EYES FROM THE SKY, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Aerial view of the Place D’Youville building devastated by fire on March 16th
They will also try to elucidate his connections to the tenants who have advertised part of the apartments in the Place D’Youville building on Airbnb. Me Benamor assures – through his lawyer – that he tried to bring her down.
However, this case is far from unique. Between 2018 and 2020, Mr. Benamor rented more than a dozen of his historic apartments in Old Montreal to the same two tenants, according to leases obtained by La Presse. According to our information, these two people, who did not want to give us an interview, then sublet the apartments via Airbnb.
His attorney, Me Bergevin, points out that signing multiple leases with the same person doesn’t automatically mean the apartments end up on Airbnb. Subletting is perfectly legal, he argued.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
402, rue Notre-Dame Est, where there is a youth hostel
Another building by Mr. Benamor on Notre-Dame Street in Old Montreal has been operated by a youth hostel for several months. During a visit this week, La Presse was able to discover that at least one room offered for rent did not have a window facing the outside.
On Booking.com, two visitors who rented the room complained in comments left on the site. “In the event of a fire, I think that’s a risk. It would be impossible to be rescued from the outside if a fire broke out inside the building,” one of the travelers complained, with two supporting photos. Me Bergevin argues that these comments refer to the operator of the inn and not the owner of the building: “The city has given the permit! Everything is correct! »
The King of Juvenile Court
Until a few years ago, Émile Benamor was better known as a lawyer than as a property owner. After graduating from the University of Sherbrooke, he was admitted to the bar in 1987.
The lawyer began his career in the corridors of the large Notre-Dame courthouse but quickly moved north to the juvenile court on the corner of Bellechasse and Saint-Denis. For years he was one of the lawyers who had a “reserve” there, acknowledges Alexandre Bergevin.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESS ARCHIVE
Seat of the juvenile court in Montreal
Me Benamor and his staff ruled the corridors of the building and handled a very large volume of files. According to our information, a judge even filed a complaint with the Bar Association against the lawyer because he felt that the large number of cases he handles would not allow him to offer his clients an adequate defense.
“He arrived in the morning and had the files before the others,” said retired attorney Jean-Jacques Gagnon, who is in charge of the investigation into the lawyer for the General Counsel of the Barreau du Quebec. “He was busy, it didn’t make sense. I even remember he was yelled at for being in room 1, he also had files in rooms 2 and 3.
“He took records, took, took, and he persuaded his clients to plead guilty. Or [il faisait] Agreements that weren’t right for customers,” continued Mr. Gagnon, adding that the distribution system for certain files had been changed as a result of his work. Me Benamor was never faced with any disciplinary action.
However, in 2006 and then 2013, the Court of Appeals agreed to invalidate the guilty pleas of Me Benamor’s young clients. In the most recent case, the courts recognized “undue pressure” on the minors who complained about being forced to plead guilty by Me Benamor. You have to “answer all questions with yes, so that the judge does not get angry,” reported one of the young people.
“In a 40-year course, it’s pretty isolated. That can happen to any lawyer, especially in a large law firm,” Me Benamor’s attorney said. The volume practice was a business decision, he added: “It wasn’t Me Benamor who invented the model. It’s a model that was and still is. »
Flea market and personal loans
At the same time, Me Benamor engaged in other activities related or not to the law. He was a shareholder of the Metropolitan Flea Market. He started a lending business with a partner. In 2011, he made $300,000 and $200,000 in private loans to investment firms, according to a court document he filed in response to a lawsuit.
Some of his clients, many of whom wanted to run legal businesses alongside their criminal activities, began to “set up” in his office to have their business correspondence routed there: a Turkish heroin towing company, an Italian gangster’s trucking business, the car wash a criminal linked to the Quebec Wolf Pack gang, the tailor of a Lebanese organized crime leader.
It is a simple formality to ensure that Registraire des Entreprises renewal forms go to the correct office, argued Me Alexandre Bergevin. “It’s all changed so much. It would be difficult to find lawyers to do that now, but it was common practice back then. Even big offices were doing it, he argued. To be honest, that doesn’t say much. »
During this period, Émile Benamor built his real estate empire, buying a lot and investing as little as possible. It’s “old school, that is, you’re trying to minimize the cost of maintaining your building,” said Me Alexandre Bergevin. Will his career as a property manager lose lawyer Benamor?