Embezzlement of 1.7 million | The CHUM victim of a family of fraudsters

Sylvie Dagenais thought she was “unattainable” for nearly 15 years. Neither seen nor known, the secretary of an emeritus researcher embezzled $1.7 million from a cancer research fund at the University of Montreal Hospital Center (CHUM). Even her husband and two sons benefited from the windfall. They now face prison.

“Sylvie Dagenais abused the trust of her superior, and in concert with Danny Édisbury, planned and implemented an elaborate and sophisticated system of fraud against her employer. […] They quickly understand that there is no control system capable of detecting them,” concluded Judge Mylène Grégoire in an 84-page decision rendered Monday.

Charged in 2019, Sylvie Dagenais and Danny Edisbury were found guilty of fraud, forgery and use of counterfeit documents over a period from 2000 to 2014. Their sons Carl Edisbury, 36, and Francis Edisbury, 34, also been found guilty of fraud.

The “deception” of the Dagenais-Édisbury was revealed during the CHUM’s move in the 2010s.

“Blind” trust

Medical secretary at the CHUM since 1980, Sylvie Dagenais enjoyed the “absolute” trust of the D^r Fred Saad, head of the Urology Department at the CHUM and eminent researcher in prostate cancer. At the beginning of the 2000s, she therefore became coordinator of a research fund.

This is where Sylvie Dagenais smells a good deal. She realizes that the CHUM and CRCHUM (CHUM research center) departments are distinct and operate in silos. Internal control is downright “non-existent”. In addition to her salary from the CHUM, Sylvie Dagenais then awarded herself a second salary at the CRCHUM by imitating the signature of the D^r Saad.

The 60-year-old secretary even comes to exercise total control over the activities of the D’s team^r Saad at CRCHUM: she hires, approves schedules, controls the approval of salaries, suppliers and invoicing of customer accounts. Furthermore, the D^r Saad gives him “carte blanche”.

The eminent researcher has so much confidence in Sylvie Dagenais that he describes her as his “right arm, his left arm, his right leg, his left leg”, according to the fraudster. “Blind” trust. The judge emphasizes that the D^r Saad – who is not charged – “mismanaged” his research fund and may have been negligent in so trusting a single person.

A “dishonest” billing system

At the trial, Sylvie Dagenais tried to make people believe that her two remunerations were legitimate, that the situation was known to the managers and that she had worked all the hours declared. An “implausible” story, decides Judge Grégoire, who refers to her testimony as “evolving, disjointed and contradictory”.

In addition to her double salary, Sylvie Dagenais and her husband set up a “carefully elaborated dishonest” billing system. Danny Édisbury’s company collected more than $460,000 between 2006 and 2014 for various possibly fictitious tasks. Payments which were generally approved by Sylvie Dagenais. In his personal name, Danny Édisbury received $152,000 from the CRCHUM.

It was by using false information or by hiding important facts that the couple collected these large sums, according to the judge.

“This is a pure scheme by the couple, orchestrated with a view to enriching themselves at the expense of the employer, to which the D^r Saad naively believed,” summarizes the judge, who highlighted Danny Édisbury’s “nonchalance and arrogance” at the trial.

Believing themselves to be “invincible”, the couple of fraudsters even included their sons Carl and Francis in their fraudulent schemes.

At 22 years old and with no experience, Carl was hired as a research assistant at the CRCHUM. For five years, he will receive 15 hours of overtime per week, without it being justified, and this, in collusion with his mother.

Their youngest son Francis Édisbury will receive $142,000 from the CRCHUM between 2007 and 2013… without even setting foot there. For five years, Sylvie Dagenais will authorize the payment of lump sums to her son, even though he does not have an employment contract. In the same period, Francis transferred $71,000 to his parents.

In 2013, Francis Édisbury was officially hired as a research assistant by the CRCHUM. At trial, the defendant was not even able to remember his job title. A “striking” observation, according to the judge. Like his brother, he systematically “works” 50 hours a week without working all those hours.

M^e Nicolas Ammerlaan and M^e Sarah-Audrey Daigneault represents the public prosecutor. M^e Isabelle Lamarche defends the couple, while M^e Maxime St-Germain represents sons Francis and Carl.