A plainclothes police officer guards the offices of Norbourg Asset Management Inc. in Montreal in this 2005 file photo.Paul Chiasson
The trial of five ex-Norbourg employees accused of bilking millions of dollars out of unwitting investors ended Tuesday when jurors concluded the case was far too complex for them to reach a unanimous verdict.
The jurors' admission forced Quebec Superior Court Justice Richard Wagner to end the four-month trial.
The accused will return to court March 8, when a date for a new trial date may be set.
The Norbourg financial scandal, masterminded by Quebec money manager Vincent Lacroix, was described by a judge as the biggest financial fraud in Canadian history.
Mr. Lacroix was sentenced last October to 13 years in jail after pleading guilty to 200 fraud-related charges and bilking some 9,200 clients out of $130-million.
Lawyers for the five men charged with Mr. Lacroix argued during the trial their clients had no knowledge of the fraud at Norbourg.
Judge Wagner sent the jurors back one last time on Tuesday to determine whether they could find any of the accused guilty on any of the more than 700 charges they were facing.
But the jury said the impasse extended to each of the accused and all of the charges. After 12 days of deliberation, they told the judge that reality would not change.
"For some of us, the evidence is very clear and we find the accused guilty, but for others, there is a doubt," the jury wrote in a note on Tuesday.
Judge Wagner said disappointment was the sentiment of the day - not only for the jury, the accused and the lawyers - but also for the 9,200 investors.
One of those investors said he wasn't surprised with the outcome considering the complexity of the case.
Pierre Gravel of Sherbrooke, Que., called the case a "lawyer's game."
"Since the beginning of this adventure, everyone promised us all kinds of things but we're convinced that, in the end, not one cent will be left for most of the people who lost their money," Mr. Gravel told The Canadian Press.
The five accused all worked for Mr. Lacroix: Serge Beugre, Jean Cholette, Felicien Souka, Remi Deschambault and Jean Renaud.
The four-month trial heard more than 60 witnesses and the five co-accused faced more than 700 charges of fraud, conspiracy and falsifying documents. The jury told the judge the case was too complex and that unanimity was impossible.
"The Norbourg case has been a series of errors since the beginning and the final one was in the preparation of the charge sheet, which the jury mentioned specifically," said lawyer Richard Dube, who represents Mr. Renaud.
"I think we have to ask if there's a pilot in the plane," he added in a shot directed at the Crown, which elected not to comment following the judge's decision.
Other defence lawyers added their clients are still not legally free because they could still face a new trial.
The lawyers said the accused have been unable to work since the charges were laid three years ago and that they carry the stain of being linked to the Norbourg fraud.
"The Crown presented its evidence but I'd say the evidence is far from conclusive, the result being that there is disagreement and that jurors have doubts about some of the accused while others are convinced," Andre Lapointe, who represents Mr. Souka.
"It's too big and there's a doubt in this case. There were five or six that said they couldn't find them guilty."
Walid Hijazi, Mr. Cholette's lawyer, says his client is stigmatized and will forever be linked to the Norbourg scandal.
"It's a partial victory in a sense," Mr. Hijazi said. "At the beginning of the trial, he was destined for an electric chair, there was a whole social movement pushing towards the guilt of all the accused.
"Today they have not been convicted and they are not going to jail, but that being said they are not free and they have no feeling of closure."