The former president of Sutton Quebec José Christophe Folla appeared Thursday at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse, after his arrest the day before for arson targeting competing real estate broker franchises in the Laurentians. The Public Prosecutor’s Office opposed his release pending trial.
Folla was in a cell at the Sûreté du Québec station in Mascouche when he appeared by videoconference on a screen at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse.
Folla’s two alleged accomplices, Benjamin Amar and Alain-Marc Nahmias, appeared on Wednesday. They would also have participated in arsons and attempted arsons in Saint-Sauveur and Sainte-Thérèse, from 2017 to January 2024.
An involved broker removed from the Group
The police report also mentions a broker from the Sutton Quebec Group, Philippe Aune. Police say he “conspired” with the three other defendants to commit the series of arsons, but he is not charged.
Sutton Quebec assures “that it will be removed from the Group”. The new boss of the franchise, co-founder Julie Gaucher, “is in contact with her customers” and “will offer them alternative services,” assures company spokesperson Patricia Lemoine Smith.
She did not specify what role he may have played in the arsons. Between Wednesday and Thursday, Aune’s page on the Sutton Quebec site disappeared.
The prosecutor in the case, Caroline Buist, requested that the judge issue an order to protect the identity of a witness in the investigation, without identifying him. The media present, including The Pressrequested the suspension of proceedings while they consulted their lawyers on this subject.
Broken links
On Wednesday, Sutton already announced that he intended to cut ties with Folla, who co-founded the company in 1995 with Julie Gaucher. His name disappeared the same day from the company’s file in the business register. Its holding company, Les Investissements Yaïck inc., was however still registered as a co-shareholder of the company with the co-founder.
According to our information, the SQ accuses Folla, Amar and Nahmias of having started eight arson attacks and of having attempted to cause two others.
These crimes allegedly destroyed several buildings, including the premises of Royal Lepage Humania and the building housing those of ReMax Bonjour, in Saint-Sauveur.
According to the Sutton Quebec website, the company today has 20 franchisees and 1,500 real estate brokers. They would process 22,000 transactions per year.
The victims are said to be ex-partners
The Press revealed yesterday that the main victims of these crimes are not only competitors of Sutton Quebec, but also former partners of the franchise.
The buildings that the arsonists would have targeted belonged in particular to a company owned by François Léger, who died in 2022, and Christian Bouvrette. They worked until 2017 under the Sutton Quebec franchise, before joining Royal Lepage.
The crimes alleged against Folla and his accomplices began in September 2017, according to the police report.
Another property burned housed offices of another franchise, Remax Bonjour. Former co-owner of the company which owned the building at the time, André Chesnay believes that the arsonists had the wrong target by setting it on fire in February 2021.
“Following the investigation and viewing the cameras, I was told “This is criminal.” »