Billions of dollars belonging to wealthy French families have been hidden from French tax authorities in Quebec as part of a massive money-laundering scheme, a Supreme Court judge has ruled.
• Also read: French billionaires would hide their wealth here
• Also read: Rich French will soon be exposed
Judge Bernard Synnott dismissed back-to-back two groups arguing about the administration of trusts (or trusts in French) linked to Montreal management firm Blue Bridge in a particularly scathing ruling delivered Thursday.
“Has Canada become a tax haven? At least that is what the actors in this case, including the parties, think,” stresses Judge Synnott.
Our Bureau of Investigation was the first outlet in the world to lift the veil on the mysterious activities of asset management firm Blue Bridge in downtown Montreal, in a two-page report published in late 2019.
Screenshot from the Blue Bridge website
Screenshot of the website of Blue Bridge, a Montreal company that manages trusts or trusts in English whose beneficiaries are wealthy French.
Our investigative office then revealed that billions of dollars held in Bermuda trusts and linked to French assets had found their way to Quebec following the completion of an information sharing agreement between France and Bermuda.
“Per the “wishes” of certain beneficiaries, Blue Bridge launders millions of dollars belonging to certain trusts through donations to foundations on Blue Bridge’s behalf. This makes it possible to hide the identity of the true donor (the trust) and ultimately the identity of the people behind the gift (the beneficiaries),” Judge Synnott mentions in his ruling.
The judge is not sympathetic to Blue Bridge boss Alain Roch, a financier with a “shaky banking career” until the early 2000s, nor to the other parties who have sued him for controlling trusts.
According to the judge, Alain Roch in particular is not credible.
Screenshot from the Blue Bridge website
Alain E. Roch, a former Swiss banker based in Quebec who runs the Blue Bridge inheritance and trust company. Large French fortunes would have placed their money with Blue Bridge by bringing it from Bermuda, a tax haven.
Among these other parties are Me Delphine Doron, an attorney registered with the Quebec Bar, and the Montreal law firm McGill Avocats.
Most of the parties in the case, he says, have no other interest than to take advantage of the windfall offered by the billions of dollars held in trusts, the judge said.
Thursday’s decision also lifts the veil on the surprising practices of lawyers close to billionaires.
“To ‘protect’ the identity of the beneficiaries of the trusts and their personal information, [un] office [d’avocats] regularly has to destroy and “throw away” all his computers. They contain too much information. Replacing all devices makes it possible not to leave a trace of the slightest clue, so anyone – including tax authorities – can identify the people behind the trusts or even the existence of a trust,” the judge points out.
“We talk to each other and write each other in codes, like the old lady, the cousins, the painter, our friend, the fishermen, the Ju, the Jibar, the Paul, SC, the Fic, Fip,” said Dic the judge.
Written documents should be avoided and faxing is recommended instead of email.
According to Judge Synnott, there is no doubt that the only reason Quebec and Canada were chosen to protect billions of French fortunes is to hide from tax authorities.
“None of these families have any connection with Canada, justifying the creation of hundreds of trusts in the country, except to deny the French state the right to full disclosure of its billions. Without this objective of asset concealment, the existing smoke screen would not strictly speaking be in place, being useless given the sole purpose of the exercise, which is to hide the money from the French tax authorities, as well as the names of the beneficiaries and settlors of trusts.” , he said.
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