Quebec police say 6th Desjardins data breach suspect turned himself in

A sixth suspect in connection with the massive Desjardins data theft has been arrested after he turned himself in to authorities.

The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) says Mathieu Joncas, a 38-year-old broker from Lac-Beauport, Que., was out of the country when his alleged accomplices were arrested last week.

Joncas was expected to appear in a Quebec City courthouse Tuesday afternoon to face charges of fraud, identity theft and trafficking in identifying information.

This is the sixth arrest made by the SQ as part of the Portier investigation, launched in 2019 following the data breach that affected 9.7 million members and clients of the Desjardins Group.

Last Wednesday, Laval, Que., police announced three arrests of individuals alleged to be connected to the data breach.

Then on Thursday, Quebec provincial police announced the arrest of five more people.

Sébastien Boulanger-Dorval, 42, was charged with fraud, identity theft and the illegal possession and sale of personal information, along with using a computer for fraud.

Boulanger-Dorval was the primary suspect in investigation. He worked at Desjardins on a marketing team at the time of the breach and allegedly sold the leaked data to pay debts.

Police said last week that an arrest warrant was issued for Joncas, Maxime Paquette and Pablo Serrano.

The last two suspects are believed to be on the run abroad and are subject to a Canada-wide arrest warrant. Paquette and Seranno, both 38, are among the 10 most wanted in Quebec.

The Desjardins data breach was revealed to the public in 2019, and authorities only became aware in December 2018 when a suspicious transaction told them something was amiss.

Benoit Richard, the co-ordinator of broadcasting and media relations with the SQ, said it took years to make arrests because the investigation was complex and they wanted to make sure they had gathered all of the evidence they needed.

The data breach at the Quebec-based credit union is thought to be one of the largest ever among Canadian financial institutions.

In a statement on Thursday, Desjardins said it was "very pleased arrests have been made."