Montreal’s First Jewish Mayor Faces Sentencing on Extortion Charge
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Michael Applebaum, Montreal’s first Jewish mayor, will learn today whether he will serve five years in prison on fraud charges.
The former mayor faces 14 charges of fraud against the government for extortion committed in 2007 and 2012. Applebaum was serving as borough mayor of Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
During the two-week trial in November, Hugo Tremblay, Applebaum’s former political aide and then chief of staff, testified that Applebaum instructed him to accept bribes from businessmen. Tremblay said he received money, amounting to $60,000, in cafes and cars. He explained that he hid the money in DVD boxes.
Quebec’s anti-corruption police, known as UPAC, arrested Applebaum in 2013, which ended Applebaum’s seven-month position as interim mayor of Montreal.
Tremblay said he was the only one who physically handled the bribe dealings.
Pierre Teasdale, Applebaum’s defense lawyer, argued that the judge cannot prove beyond a reason of a doubt that Applebaum is guilty. Tremblay is the only one able to connect Applebaum to the crimes and is receiving immunity for his testimony, which Teasdale said makes him an unreliable witness. Teasdale pointed out that during the three secretly recorded conversations between Applebaum and Tremblay, Appleaum did not implicate himself.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
