Montreal billionaire Robert Miller is selling his electronic components company, Future Electronics Inc., as the reclusive entrepreneur prepares to defend himself in court against accusations that he exploited minors and young adults for sex over several years beginning in the 1990s.
Taiwanese semiconductor components distributor WT Microelectronics has struck a deal to acquire closely held Future for US$3.8-billion in cash (about $5.1-billion) including assumed debt, the companies said in a joint statement Thursday. Future, based in the Montreal suburb of Pointe Claire, will continue to operate under its own name, with its existing management team and all its employees, the companies added.
“The senior management is excited about this next step in our evolution. We believe this gives us opportunities to expand our reach and our revenue,” Future Electronics corporate vice-president Jamie Singerman said in an interview.
Future has been in turmoil since the new year, when Radio-Canada’s investigative program Enquête aired a report in which it spoke to 10 women who claimed they had been paid to have sex with Mr. Miller in separate meetings spanning more than a decade. Six of them said they were under the age of 18 when the alleged encounters occurred, according to the report. One was 14, Enquête said.
Consumer Law Group, a law firm, filed a class-action lawsuit against Mr. Miller and Future Electronics in February. Some 30 women have provided sworn affidavits in that suit, alleging Mr. Miller gave them cash, jewellery and other gifts in exchange for sex when they were underage, according to the firm.
The encounters allegedly took place at downtown Montreal hotels and two residences in the city’s affluent Westmount neighbourhood between 1992 and 2012. Mr. Miller used the alias “Bob Adams” to hide his identity, according to a court filing in the case.
The class-action application, which must still be certified by a judge, has been amended to include two business associates of Mr. Miller as defendants. Two other lawsuits against Mr. Miller related to alleged sexual exploitation of minors have also been filed.
In the latest suit, a woman is accusing Mr. Miller and his associates of having set up a “network for recruiting young girls” to perform sex work for the Future founder as well as “other wealthy and influential men” in his circle, according to a CBC report published earlier this month. Montreal police have investigated the allegations against Mr. Miller in the past. No charges were ever laid.
Future announced on Feb. 3 that Mr. Miller would step down as chief executive and chairman of the company in order to focus on “very serious health issues” and devote his attention to protecting his reputation. He “adamantly and vehemently denies” the allegations and says the claims arose as a result of a bitter divorce, the electronics distributor said in a statement at the time.
“The decision at that point was to separate Mr. Miller from the company,” Mr. Singerman said. This included the launch of a formal sale process. The founder made that call “in the best interest of the employees and the business model that’s been built over 55 years,” Mr. Singerman added.
Mr. Miller did not respond to a request for comment made through the company on Thursday. His lawyer, Karim Renno, declined to comment on the sale, but said of the allegations made in the lawsuits that “Mr. Miller refuted them as soon as they were released.”
Mr. Miller founded Future Electronics in 1968 and has kept a low profile since, refusing most interview requests from journalists even as the company ballooned in size. The business publication Forbes pegged his fortune at US$1.8-billion in this year’s edition of its World’s Billionaires List, which featured one of the few known published photographs of the media-shy businessman.
Future, a distributor of electronic components such as microprocessors and capacitors, now has some 5,200 employees working in 47 countries. Through the first six months of the year, it generated revenues of US$2.9-billion, operating income of US$228-million and net income of US$184-million, according to the companies’ statement.
Quebec public records show that Mr. Miller’s holding company, Alonim Investments, controls Future as majority shareholder. Mr. Miller owns all of Future, Mr. Singerman said. Neither Alonim nor Mr. Miller were mentioned in the joint statement from Future and WT Microelectronics.
In a brief profile of Mr. Miller published in 2014, Forbes said myths about Future’s founder circulate in the industry, largely because he has shunned the spotlight. The publication said he believes in cryonics, the science of freezing bodies to restore life to them later on, and supports the cryonics-focused Alcor Life Extension Foundation.
With a report from Canadian Press
Nicolas Van Praet