Travel, restaurants, home decorations, gasoline: a repeat fraudster who spoiled herself on the arm of her own cousin’s business has been sentenced to 28 months behind bars and will have to repay him more than $225,000.
“It is unfortunate that the defendant did not take the opportunity during her first sentence for fraud to stay on the right track, especially since it was a family member who had put her self-confidence,” lamented Judge Sylvain Lépine, handing down his sentence against Stéphanie Frigon.
The 43-year-old was sentenced in 2013 to two years less a day to be served in the community for a five-year $200,000 fraud at her former employer, Aldo, and compensation of $20,000 to be paid.
Photo taken from Facebook
Stephanie Frigon
However, her legal problems did not prevent her from setting up, from 2011 to 2017, another system to embezzle funds from her cousin’s business, Embellissements Monaco, in the Laurentians.
“The scheme was planned and implemented slowly so as not to arouse suspicion,” noted Judge Lépine. The offenses had only one purpose: to pay for personal property. »
Important impacts
Stéphanie Frigon’s crimes have had a significant impact on the company, which works in the field of landscaping, swimming pool installation, concrete pouring and snow removal.
The cousin of the accused had to sell property and buildings to allow the survival of the business. But he also found himself in the crosshairs of Revenu Québec.
Following “an audit by the tax authorities, he had to pay a sum of $150,000 in taxes, because the withdrawals made by the accused were declared as advances to the shareholder”, explained the judge.
Saying she was no longer the same person, the fraudster pleaded not to be sentenced to prison, again suggesting a sentence in the community or on weekends.
But the latter “demonstrated a contempt for the law”, denounced the magistrate, who preferred to rely on the principles of denunciation and deterrence.
A civil lawsuit
Despite her conviction, the accused’s legal troubles are not over, since her cousin is suing her.
Contacted by The newspaperthe latter preferred not to comment on the case since the legal procedures are still in progress.
However, we learn in the document filed in civil court in January 2018 how the mother of the family spent the money she extracted over the years.
Travel, cleaning services, groceries, restaurant meals, gasoline are among others listed. Several purchases would also have made it possible to “furnish, paint and decorate” a new home.
The lawsuit also specifies that the victim did not know at the time of hiring her that she was suspected of having defrauded her former employer, Aldo.