Ex-Norbourg CEO gets sentence reduced

The former head of Norbourg Asset Management, Vincent Lacroix, has succeeded in getting Quebec's highest court to reduce his sentence for securities violations.

On Friday, Quebec's Court of Appeal struck down the sentence imposed on Vincent Lacroix for his 51 convictions for securities violations.

Lacroix took money from widows, orphans and retirees and bilked almost 10,000 people out of more than $100 million.

In January of 2008, Judge Claude Leblond sentenced Lacroix to consecutive sentences that added up to 12 years in prison.

Lacroix argued this was disproportionate and appealed. Judge André Vincent of Quebec's Superior court agreed and reduced Lacroix's sentence to 8.5 years but kept the consecutive sentencing in place. Lacroix appealed again, this time to Quebec's Court of Appeal.

On Friday, the Court of Appeal sided with the disgraced financial analyst. The court said both Judge Leblond and Judge Vincent erred in their decisions. The Court of Appeal said the law is clear: consecutive sentences are not allowed in security violation cases like the one against Lacroix.

The court ruled Lacroix should have been sentenced to the maximum, a total of five years less a day. The ruling comes as Lacroix is out on bail after serving more than 40 months.

Lacroix still faces nearly 200 fraud charges, which he is challenging as well.