Sudbury’s Largest Fraud Case is Underway Again
The largest fraud case to ever take place in Sudbury has been opened again, with the jury getting back to work on Monday after some time off. The break in the trial came as the prosecution and defense took time to ready their final submissions.
Through the trial, the Crown prosecution has tried to prove that Dirk Plate and Paul Caron defrauded Atlas Copco (Canada’s CMT division of the Swedish industrial company) of nearly $24 million. The two parties (Caron opted to defend himself) have been preparing their final submissions and are now before the jury this week.
Plate (who denies any part of the fraud) and Caron are accused of inflating the cost of benefit claims for employees, with Caron the named insurance broker in charge of the claims. The two are thought to have conspired with David Hillier, CMT finance controller, and Atlas Copco’s Canadian human resources manager, Leo Caron. The scheme was set up to get the company to overpay for benefit claims.
The fraud has been ongoing since 1996, as confirmed by Leo Caron last month. He pointed out that the bill should have been $4.5 million, but Paul Caron invoiced the company for $9 million. Leo Caron has already been tried and was found guilty, sentenced to five years in April with minus time served.
