The Hollywood dream of a pair of Quebec directors turned out to be a nightmare for small savers to finance a “too good to be true” project, a documentary says. Lovaganza: The Great IllusionAvailable from today.
Posted at 8:00 am
Using a series of interviews, the documentary’s authors try to explain how artists have led life as stars in recent years in the context of hundreds of small investors.
“We talked to a hundred investors and we heard the green and the unripe. We would have loved to put everything we heard into the documentary, but it wasn’t possible,” says Aude Leroux-Lévesque, co-author of the documentary.
The film reports that 24 million has been collected from more than 600 savers since the launch of the Lovaganja project nearly fifteen years ago.
The promoters of the project offered small investors a return of 10 times their stake, but they were going to help build large-scale films and fund humanitarian projects.
“There were people who gave money, took out RRSPs and even gave their credit card number,” says journalist Isabelle Dukas. PressTestifying in this film, he was the first journalist to write about the case eight years ago.
‘Disturbing and dishonest’
Isabelle Ducasse said the money was collected in violation of the rules of the Autorite des Marches financiers. But also with the help of lies.
“They say for example that Steven Spielberg is one of their mentors when that’s not true,” says Isabelle Ducas.
This is a story that goes from twist to twist. We’re not done hearing about it.
At Isabelle Ducasse, journalist Press
The documentary’s authors say they have tried, without success, to talk to the main people responsible for the Lovaganza project.
The documentary’s co-writer, Sebastian Rist, allows the film’s “victims” to turn the page and perhaps even understand that they are not alone or crazy. “Because some people were rejected by family and friends for participating in this project,” he says.
Aud Leroux-Lévesque opined that it is particularly “disturbing” and “dishonest” to “exile” people for the supposed values of peace, unity, love and mutual aid. “No foundation has benefited from the alleged money,” she said.
Two separate lawsuits
Two lawsuits filed by the Autorité des marchés financiers regarding the case are still active. The first targets the fundraisers Marc-Eric Fortin and Karine Lamarre, while the other targets the screenwriters, directors and heads of the project, presented as Jean-Francois Gagnon and Genevieve Cloutier.
A retrial is scheduled for Sept. 12 for the Fortin-Lamarre couple, who have already pleaded guilty to multiple counts. “We will continue to make representations on the sentence there. The performances were interrupted due to the health condition of Smt.me Lamarre,” said an AMF spokesperson.
Photo by Catherine Lefebvre, Archives Special Contribution
Karine Lamarre and Marc-Eric Fortin, seen in Montreal in November 2021
AMF is asking for a prison sentence. “They are [les intimés] A big risk. Just for violating investment laws. It is very rare for the AMF to ask for a prison sentence,” Isabelle Ducas stated.
The lawsuit was filed for investments without a prospectus, but the scandal in this story is on a human scale, comments Aude Leroux-Lévesque. This, according to her, demonstrates the limitations of the legal system.
Aude Leroux-Lévesque said that with the evidence gathered, she could tell that there were bad intentions and lies. Whether it is fraud or not will depend on the courts to decide, she said.
Documentary Lowaganza: The Great Illusion Offered this Tuesday on the Vrai platform.
