WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
Reclusive Quebec billionaire Robert G. Miller, who allegedly paid several young girls in exchange for sexual favours, was arrested Thursday afternoon and faces 21 charges, including sexual assault, obtaining sexual services for consideration and several counts of sexual exploitation of minors.
The former owner of Future Electronics was arrested at his home in the Montreal neighbourhood of Westmount.
Miller is alleged to have committed the offences against 10 women and girls — eight of them minors — between 1994 and 2016, Montreal police said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. One of the alleged victims was under 14 years old at the time of alleged offences.
The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) said Miller was released with conditions on a promise to appear in court on July 3. In a media release, police said he was unable to appear in court Thursday due to his health. Miller, 80, has late-stage Parkinson’s disease.
The SPVM said its investigation into the offences is ongoing and appealed for any victims to come forward.
The charges are the culmination of a year-long police investigation, which was triggered by a CBC/Radio-Canada investigation that aired in February 2023.
According to the SPVM, after the story aired, more victims came forward, which allowed police to reopen an investigation.
In a written statement Thursday evening, Miller reiterated his innocence and said he will fight the allegations. He said that “the clear motivation behind this whole case, dating back as far as 30 years ago, is easy financial gain” at his expense.
Miller “deplores” the fact that the prosecution proceeded with charges “notwithstanding its knowledge that his state of health prevents him from defending himself,” the statement said.
Last year, Radio-Canada’s Enquête and CBC’s The Fifth Estate revealed allegations from several women who said Miller had paid them for sexual services while they were minors, some as young as 14.
The women who spoke to CBC/Radio-Canada claimed they’d been paid thousands of dollars in cash and showered with designer clothes, handbags and shoes. They also claimed that Miller paid them generous incentives to recruit their friends.
Miller has always denied the allegations made against him. His lawyer has not commented on the criminal accusations.
Thursday’s arrest brought a sense of closure for some.
“It was time. Every morning I woke up and wondered: ‘Will it be today?'” said one of the alleged victims, who says she feels extremely relieved. “Now it’s true, finally we are believed.”
While she said she’s sad to see the number of alleged victims, she always suspected there would be many. “I’d like him to plead guilty, out of respect for all of us.”
Earlier investigation into sex offences
Miller and some of his associates had been investigated by police in 2009 for claims of sex offences. However, no charges were laid against the reclusive billionaire.
Alleged victims and witnesses believe this was in part because many young women did not know the businessman’s true identity.
A notoriously private person despite his standing as one of Quebec’s richest men, Miller was seldom photographed, and the young women who met him allege he told them he was an American radio executive named Bob Adams.
Allegations a Canadian billionaire paid teens for sex.
Miller resigned from his role as CEO of Future Electronics hours after the CBC/Radio-Canada story broke in February 2023. The Montreal-based electronic parts distributor has since been sold to Taiwanese company WT Microelectronics.
Several new allegations have since emerged against the billionaire and have been laid out in a series of civil suits. A class action against Miller, which has yet to be authorized, now includes nearly 50 participants, including women who say they were only 11 or 12 years old when they first had sexual contact with the billionaire.
Three other women have filed individual lawsuits against the businessman, claiming more than $30 million in damages.
Miller contests all these proceedings and denies all allegations.
Last March, one of the civil suits was rejected on the grounds that the plaintiff had accepted tens of thousands of dollars from Miller after the 2023 CBC/Radio-Canada story was broadcast. The judge ruled that by accepting this money, she had implicitly agreed not to sue the businessman.
The alleged victim, who is appealing this decision, said she spent 20 years under the billionaire’s yoke. She is demanding $8 million in damages for the trauma she said she incurred.
During the proceedings, one of Miller’s associates, Sam Abrams, revealed that he had paid the plaintiff nearly $100,000 — money from his bank account but purportedly from the coffers of Future Electronics — after she was contacted by Radio-Canada journalists during their investigation.
The alleged victim had refused to participate in Radio-Canada’s investigation, but had also declined to sign a document waiving her right to sue Miller.
Too sick to testify in court, medical experts say
Medical experts have stated that Miller is extremely ill, suffering from Parkinson’s disease and cardiac ailments, and that he is too sick to testify in court.
As such, the judge overseeing the class-action suit against him recently ruled that he can be interrogated in writing, before the lawsuit is authorized.
“The court considers that conducting an oral examination at a minimally sustained pace and where even the slightest meaningful and useful answers are given would put Miller’s life in danger,” Quebec Superior Court Justice Christian Immer wrote in his decision, acknowledging that fears that Miller might die or become too ill to testify are warranted.
A written interrogation, Immer said, “gives Miller plenty of time to formulate an intelligible response. This will allow an appropriate pace and allow him to take the necessary breaks.”
For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.