Ex-Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum Faces Wider Corruption Probe
Image by getty images
Former Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum is now implicated in a decades-long “system of corruption,” that police now believe involved developers bribing public officials with “thousands of dollars” for zoning changes, the Montreal Gazette reported.
When Applebaum, 50, was arrested in July of this year, he faced 14 charges of fraud, conspiracy, and corruption among others due to two questionable real estate deals dating to his mayoral tenure of the Montreal borough Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce from 2002 to 2012.
On Thursday, Montreal police widened the scope of the investigation against him.
Police told La Presse and Radio-Canada that they are now investigating 10 major real estate transactions between 2002 and 2012 in the Côte borough. A city councilor and borough mayor are also under arrest.
Applebaum was the first Jewish person to serve as mayor of Montreal, as well as the first anglophone in 100 years, although he speaks fluent French. He is schedule to make his first court appearance on October 9.
The Montreal Gazette pointed out that Applebaum is just the latest in a string of mayors from the Quebec province who have been implicated in corruption scandals. Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt of the town of Laval, in the south of the province, was arrested in May 2013 and charged with Fraud and gangsterism.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Cornell’s new Jewish president says he is ‘very comfortable with where Cornell is currently’
-
Fast Forward Digital breadcrumbs lead to the team behind Jewish Onliner, the AI-powered website that got a Yale scholar suspended
-
Sports The Trail Blazers let Israeli starter Deni Avdija cook, and minted a franchise player in the process
-
Fast Forward What Mahmoud Khalil says about Gaza and Israel in ‘The Encampments’ documentary
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Opinion Is this new documentary giving voice to American Jewish anguish — or simply stoking fear?
- 4
Fast Forward Trump’s antisemitism chief shares ‘Jew card’ post from white supremacist
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion A Palestinian Oscar-winner’s arrest shocked the world. For these Jewish activists, it was terrifyingly normal
-
Opinion In the Trump administration and Israel, a grotesque display of virility coupled with a loss of humanity
-
Fast Forward Cornell’s new Jewish president says he is ‘very comfortable with where Cornell is currently’
-
Fast Forward Digital breadcrumbs lead to the team behind Jewish Onliner, the AI-powered website that got a Yale scholar suspended
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.