A Quebec Superior Court judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit against Montreal billionaire Robert Miller, who is accused of paying minors for sex.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Justice Catherine Piché said the lawsuit brought by three plaintiffs against Miller, his former company—Future Electronics—and a handful of executives and alleged accomplices could go ahead.
Piché described Miller’s alleged actions against girls between the ages of 11 and 17, from the late 1970s to 2016, as “extremely serious acts.”
Miller also faces a number of other civil lawsuits filed by four individual complainants, while a fifth lawsuit was rejected and that decision is being appealed.
The 81-year-old founder of global electronics company Future Electronics has repeatedly denied the allegations and has argued that the women should sue him individually instead of together in a class action.
The billionaire, who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, also faces 24 criminal charges including sexual assault, sexual interference and enticing a person to commit prostitution—charges he denies.
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The Canadian Press correction: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the allegations covered a period from 1994 through 2006.
