Posted at 6:00 a.m.
An employee of a Desjardins subsidiary who helped clients open an account and make investments actually took the opportunity to withdraw funds from their retirement accounts. This $243,000 fraud could cost him six months in prison. However, he managed to postpone his sentence to take training as a soccer coach.
Before becoming a technician at Desjardins Financial Security (DSF), a subsidiary of Desjardins, Cédric Carrié was a star player in Quebec soccer as a teenager. In 2007, he aligned himself with the Canadian U-17 team at the CONCACAF championships. He also won the Ballon d’or from the Quebec Premier Soccer League in 2012.
His new career in banking, however, turned out badly. Accused of fraud in August 2020, the 32-year-old man pleaded guilty last July at the Montreal courthouse.
In the summer of 2019, Cédric Carrié’s main responsibilities at DSF were answering customer calls to help them register online, make withdrawals or choose savings products. He was also in “daily and regular” contact with group retirement savings clients at the McGill College Avenue branch in Montreal.
But during the calls, Cédric Carrié sometimes took screenshots of his screen and entered important information from his victims in the application. Notepad. He then used the birthdates of his victims to achieve his ends. When he created online accounts for clients, most oddly displayed “Sophie” as the mother’s first name, the joint summary of facts filed in court said.
Thus, in just one month, 62 “irregular withdrawals” for a sum of $547,000 were discovered in the same “transitional group” of retirement savings. Among these withdrawals, 18 were consulted by Cédric Carrié. Other “irregular withdrawals” totaling $38,000 were made from three accounts from another savings “group”.
Among the 36 victims, Cédric Carrié consulted the accounts of 27 of them. His consultations then preceded the “irregular” withdrawal from the accounts. Desjardins Internal Affairs discovered the fraud a month after it began on July 29, 2019. The total loss from the fraud was $243,373.
A final deadline
The document filed with the court, however, does not detail what Cédric Carrié did with the funds fraudulently withdrawn. It is only indicated that five banking institutions were used for the transfer of the sums. At the last hearing, on October 4, the Crown prosecutor briefly addressed the issue.
It is possible that Monsieur was able to benefit from a quarter of the sums that were withdrawn, but at this stage, I could never give you proof beyond any doubt of the sums from which Mr. Carrié was able to benefit.
Me Sandra Tremblay
This is why the fraudster only has $15,000 to reimburse DFS under the common suggestion.
Cédric Carrié was in principle to take the road to prison last week, since the parties suggest a sentence of six months in detention, accompanied by community work. However, the fraudster snatched a final deadline of three months, despite the concerns of the prosecution.
“I wouldn’t want Monsieur to go to another country and never come back. I would not want us to postpone to January for the same reason, ”pleaded Me Tremblay, who however did not object to the postponement. The defense has thus undertaken to file Cédric Carrié’s passport.
“Sports Coordinator”
This postponement is necessary to allow Cédric Carrié to complete his training to obtain his “license” as a children’s soccer coach. “He is also a director of the Association [de soccer de Brossard]. They are in high season and in registration period. Monsieur told me that his work is necessary, ”said his lawyer, Mr.e Francois Létourneau-Prezeau. He also maintains that the rehabilitation of Cédric Carrié is “completed”.
On the website of the Brossard Soccer Association, it is indicated that Cédric Carrié is “sports coordinator” within the administrative team, but is not one of the administrators of the organization.
After expressing some reservations, Judge Lori Renée Weitzman finally agreed to postpone the sentence for a “last time” next January given the “exceptional circumstances” and the “good progress of sir”.
“Mr. Carrie [n’est plus employé] of Desjardins. The vigilance of our teams made it possible to quickly detect the scheme put in place by Mr. Carrié. Note that there was no financial loss for our members and customers. This is an isolated situation and actions have been taken to ensure that it does not happen again,” said Jean-Benoît Turcotti, spokesperson for the Mouvement Desjardins.