The young woman who raised the ire of UQAM by publishing her topless graduation photo on social networks in 2021 is now suing a businessman close to organized crime. She accuses him of deceptive maneuvers to seize her properties, two triplexes worth $3 million.
What there is to know
Hélène Boudreau, known by the nickname “the girl from UQAM” since the university sued her for a topless graduation photo, is suing Rhéal Dallaire, a businessman with ties to the organized crime.
She allegedly agreed with him so that he would serve as her nominee to purchase two triplexes worth $3 million in the VillaNova project, in the Lachine borough.
According to the lawsuit, Hélène Boudreau made payments totaling 1.45 million, but Dallaire demanded another 3 million from him and threatened to keep the buildings, as part of “deceitful maneuvers”.
The promoter denies the facts.
The creator of sexual content allegedly gave 1.45 million to Rhéal Dallaire so that he could buy the properties, then entrust them to her as a nominee. But the promoter would still demand 3 million. Hélène Boudreau says she is “excessively stressed” and “depressed” following these events.
“I think Hélène is exaggerating,” says Rhéal Dallaire, on the phone with The Press. These are not the facts at all. She missed payments. » However, he did not want to say more.
“Financing problem”
Hélène Boudreau says she started to take an interest in the world of real estate in 2021. “Given the sector of activity” in which she works, she had “a certain problem obtaining standard bank financing”.
One day, she met Dallaire through “a mutual friend,” according to the suit. The promoter then assures him “that he has a good reputation in the world of real estate investment and that he is able to obtain standard bank financing”.
“Dallaire offers to act as a nominee for the plaintiff in the context of her real estate investments,” the lawsuit states.
In fact, Rhéal Dallaire has a serious criminal past. The police also searched his Westmount home in March 2023, as part of a vast strike targeting in particular leaders of the Hells Angels and Francesco Del Balso, a former member of the mafia, since assassinated.
In 2019, the developer sold four vacant lots to mafia co-leader Leonardo Rizzuto, whose sidekick Stefano Sollecito lives in a house belonging to the company of Dallaire’s partner, Isabelle Gagnon.
PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK
Businessman Rhéal Dallaire and his wife Isabelle Gagnon, sued by Hélène Boudreau
In the 1990s, the businessman increased his prison sentences for drug trafficking, fraud, extortion, theft and assault, among others.
Triplex at the VillaNova project
Around June 2021, Dallaire offered Hélène Boudreau the purchase of two triplexes in the VillaNova project, according to the lawsuit. This vast project in Lachine, launched by the former deposed developer Paolo Catania, ended up in the hands of Groupe JML inc. by Michael Lapenna.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
The triplexes at the heart of the conflict between Hélène Boudreau and Rhéal Dallaire are located in the center of this row of buildings with common walls, in the Villanova project in Lachine.
Hélène Boudreau would have accepted the transaction. In August 2021, she began making payments to Dallaire, to a trust account at a law firm and to her partner’s businesses. In total, the 32-year-old woman entrusted them with more than 1 million, according to the lawsuit.
According to the land register, the coveted properties were still in the hands of the builder JML at that time. They were only sold in November 2022, to a company owned by Dallaire’s wife – the same one who officially owns the house where the mafioso Sollecito lives in Blainville.
“At this time, the plaintiff does not sign any document and obeys the requests,” assures Hélène Boudreau’s request.
Isabelle Gagnon did not call back The Press.
Serial signatures
Hélène Boudreau’s lawsuit then recounts how Dallaire allegedly “forced” her to sign a series of documents in her lawyer’s office: a sales and nominee agreement, a “remuneration agreement,” a “contract of management” and a “commitment” not to communicate on this subject.
“Dallaire expressly mentioned that she did not have the right to consult a lawyer and that the clauses were non-negotiable,” mentions the motion. The businessman allegedly “refused” to give him copies of the documents until February 2023.
According to Hélène Boudreau, the nominee contract that Dallaire made her sign provided for “remuneration of $190,200 per building”, or $380,400. She would also have realized that the mortgage loan she had to repay on the buildings carries interest at 18%, a rate three times higher than those on the current market.
Saying she was “stuck under the pressure”, she allegedly agreed to make eight more payments totaling $390,000, bringing the total amount paid to the businessman and his partner’s businesses to $1.45 million.
Hélène Boudreau adds that she signed a management contract with Vision Immo, another Isabelle Gagnon company. However, it would not do “any marketing” and only two of the six units in the triplexes were rented, according to the plaintiff.
By contract, it would have undertaken “not to advertise, promote, communicate or make people believe that the buildings belong to it” and could therefore not take care of the management itself.
In her lawsuit filed last February, Hélène Boudreau alleges that Dallaire, his wife and their companies are still demanding $3 million from her, “with their random figures.” She refuses and instead demands the transfer of the titles of the triplexes to her name and $150,000 in damages.
Hélène Boudreau did not call back The Press to comment on the matter. His new lawyer Pascal Plouffe, who has just taken over the case, declined to comment.