The sommelier, who has defrauded dozens of employees, customers and suppliers over the past decade, is now trying to retrain as a sommelier Nail professional with a new identity.
“This lady is something. In fact, it needs to stop,” says Rebecca Giard, owner of Pure Bar Beauté beauty salon in Sorel-Tracy.
On February 9, the 31-year-old businesswoman was disheartened to discover the deception. The nail technician who worked at her company under the name Julie-Catherine Gagné was actually Catherine Levasseur.
In Varennes
Last May, our Bureau of Investigation reported that this sommelier, known for her fake wine tastings in Quebec, fled around twenty people who demanded thousands of dollars from her. We also learned that the courts were looking for her because they couldn't make contact with her, and that she was the target of about ten civil lawsuits.
According to Le Journal's observations, Levasseur had apparently been in a rented house in Varennes for about two years.
metamorphosis
For her part, Rebecca Giard says she met the 51-year-old woman last April.
“She asked for a metamorphosis, a big change, to have short, red hair. When we put the pieces of the puzzle together, we understand,” she states.
Then, in December, the woman, who allegedly bragged about working as a nail technician for two decades, convinced Ms. Giard to rent her space in her salon. However, she would have avoided signing a contract, said Ms. Giard.
In good faith, the owner offered “Julie-Catherine,” who was supposedly new to the area and had no customers, a preferential price.
“Julie-Catherine” would have sent these examples to Rebecca Giard to show her her expertise. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Giard
Ms. Giard would have trusted her primarily because of the online “Nails Boss” training she offered for more than $1,200.
“The photos she showed me of her work were obviously fake,” believes Ms. Giard, to whom several unhappy customers have complained. I really wonder if she has a degree in nail art.”
More excuses
Shortly thereafter, the same pretexts that the sommelier had already used to her numerous creditors to justify her late payments resurfaced. She now owes this owner about $600.
“Gastro, her boyfriend's father died, she had to take a plane, I don't know where to go.” Then her boyfriend left her, which is why she couldn't pay anymore,” says Ms. Giard.
The latter quickly ended their agreement, believing they had been taken for granted.
“It’s not even necessarily about the money. It's really because she came in here. I felt betrayed,” she said.
Here we see an example of the result of “Julie-Catherine’s” work on a dissatisfied customer. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Giard
stigma
Levasseur, for his part, did not want to answer our questions. Instead, she sent a statement claiming to have begun a name change process “to eliminate the stigma associated with Catherine Levasseur.”
Regarding Ms. Giard's beauty salon, she states that “the goal was simply to have a basis for providing aesthetic services, a matter of merit.” [sa] Live, in peace.
With her signature “Julie-Catherine,” she describes the denunciation of her former employees as a “vendetta” and says she has an empty notebook.
According to her partner Daniel Carette, whom she met in the parking lot of her home, where four cars were parked, including a BMW XT model and an Audi TT, Levasseur “never claimed to be a professional” at nailing.
In the neighborhood, residents told the Journal that they saw at least one bailiff attempt unsuccessfully to hand-deliver papers to Ms. Levasseur.
Catherine Levasseur photo from Facebook page
Who is Catherine Levasseur?
- Known in 2013 for deceiving hundreds of people thanks to the Tuango discount by offering wine tastings in hotels that never happened
- She opened and closed at least four restaurants during the pandemic and left bills and salaries of more than twenty people unpaid, our investigative agency confirmed
- She also uses the names Gagné, Levasseur Gagné or L. Gagné
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