Christophe Folla was sentenced to a five-year prison term with the possibility of an additional five years if he doesn’t pay $2.5 million.
Christophe Folla, the co-founder of the real-estate firm Sutton Quebec, admitted on Wednesday that he ordered nine fires intended to harm his competitors while he sought revenge for perceived slights.
Folla, 71, of Westmount, appeared before Quebec Court Michel Belhumeur Wednesday afternoon at the St-Jérôme courthouse through a video conference connecting the courtroom to a detention centre in St-Jérôme where he was detained since his arrest earlier this year. He pleaded guilty to being part of a conspiracy to set the fires, including a few in St-Sauveur, and an arson charge.
The fires caused a total of $6 million in damages.
Folla asked to appear through a video conference because of his health problems. He said he experienced pain each time guards brought him to the courthouse in the past.
“Mr. Folla was identified as the principal person who ordered the fires, the totality of the fires,” prosecutor Caroline Buist told the judge during Wednesday’s hearing.
She noted that other people have been charged in the investigation into the blazes and that Folla pleaded guilty early in the case.
The judge agreed with a common suggestion on a sentence made by lawyers on both sides of the case. The judge noted the guilty pleas avoided having to hold a trial that was expected to last up to seven weeks.
Folla was sentenced to a five-year prison term and was ordered to pay a total of $2.5 million, including $1.5 million to a long list of people and companies who lost money in the fires. If he does not pay the $2.5 million by Dec. 4, 2027, he will have to serve another five-year prison term.
Folla co-founded Sutton Quebec in 1995 and built it into one of the largest real-estate firms in the province, with 10 franchises and 1,500 brokers conducting 22,000 transactions a year. At the time of his arrest, Folla was the owner of the Balmoral Golf Club in Morin-Heights.
The company severed its ties with Folla following his arrest.
This article will be updated.