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One of his alleged victims has filed a new lawsuit against Montreal billionaire Robert Miller, seeking a total of $9.5 million in punitive and non-material damages, Radio-Canada has learned.
The lawsuit targets Miller, the company he founded, Future Electronics, and two other people who were allegedly involved in a system of sexual exploitation of minors devised by the businessman.
“The damage suffered by the claimant is unimaginable,” said her lawyer, Maryse Lapointe. “I’ve never seen a story like this here in Quebec.”
For the first time, a woman accuses Miller and his associates of creating a “network to recruit young girls for sex work” for clients other than Miller. The network was allegedly set up by Raymond Poulet, who described himself as a special adviser to Miller for several years.
“Certain young women recruited by Poulet for Miller … also met other wealthy and influential men who gravitated in Miller’s and Poulet’s circles,” according to the allegations in the lawsuit. The lawsuit does not identify the men.
Miller denies any involvement in a child exploitation ring. He is contesting all charges. Neither he nor the other defendants have responded to the latest lawsuit that has just been filed.
‘Total control’
According to the lawsuit, the victim, identified by the initials AB, had responded to a classified ad posted in 1994 or 1995 by the man acting as Miller’s matchmaker. She was a minor and “very vulnerable” at the time, the lawsuit says.
Miller allegedly met AB at a Montreal luxury hotel and paid her $1,000 for a bath and nude photos of her. She did not know his identity, as he called himself “Bob” and claimed that he owned an American radio station. She allegedly had another sexual encounter with him a few months later, in the company of another minor.
AB then alleges that she was “forced to have sex with many mature men whose identities she did not know, every week for several years, all orchestrated by Poulet, paid for by Future, for the benefit of Miller.” During this period, she described being drugged in a hotel and waking up in pain in Poulet’s apartment in the La Cité complex in Montreal.
She claims to have suffered post-traumatic shock and that “Poulet exerted complete control over her”.
AB became his wife and gave birth to a son in 1998. She claims to have completely lost her relationship with her son after leaving Poulet, according to the lawsuit.
Contacted by Radio-Canada SurveyPoulet responded that the dates mentioned in the lawsuit are incorrect and that the information is inaccurate.
CBC/Radio-Canada spoke to several women who claimed to have been recruited for sex work. (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada)
espionage and threats
The suit also alleges that during the same period, the victim was forced to spy on her former partner Poulet at Miller’s request.
Poulet had wanted to blackmail his boss and was quickly visited by a person sent by Future, who threatened to make him and the son he had with AB disappear.
Miller and AB then agreed that she “would keep an eye on Poulet…in exchange for Miller stopping threatening her son.”
For his efforts, AB received $2,000 a month from Terry Corcoran and Robert Stevens, owners and employees of NCIS, a security firm hired by Miller and Future.
“She’s a homeless teenager who got caught up in a system of sexual exploitation and was forced to monitor that system for the benefit of her abuser,” Lapointe said. “My client found herself reliving her trauma constantly and for several years.”
Miller and Future Electronics are also facing two other lawsuits related to the sexual exploitation of minors that he allegedly organized: a class action lawsuit involving 29 alleged victims and another individual lawsuit. In the latter case, the plaintiff seeks $8 million in damages.
Montreal attorney named in lawsuit
Last February, Survey and CBC The fifth Estate revealed that Miller had been investigated by the Montreal police in connection with allegations of sexual exploitation of minors.
The report also revealed that a lawyer provided by Miller had accompanied several alleged victims as they gave testimony to police. This police investigation was closed in 2010 without charges being filed.
The new lawsuit alleges that Stephen Angers, a well-known Montreal criminal lawyer, prevented victims from telling investigators about their experiences within the ring run by Miller.
Lapointe said that “he was instructing the girls not to give any other information to the police.”
Angers had not responded to Radio-Canada’s request for comment at press time.
Allegations that a Canadian billionaire paid teenagers for sex.