Former Norbourg CEO Vincent Lacroix has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $255,000, the Quebec court ruled on Monday.

Judge Claude Leblond handed down the sentence at the Montreal courthouse after Lacroix failed to convince him to hear a constitutional challenge of provincial securities laws.

The courtroom erupted in loud applause as the sentence was read. Many in attendance were Norbourg investors who were defrauded of their life savings in the scandal.

Prosecutors were pleased with the sentence, which came close to the 15-year prison term they sought.

“We are very satisfied with obtaining a cumulative prison sentence," said Montreal lawyer Éric Downs, who tried the case for l'Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Quebec's financial regulator.

"The judge had retained our argument that the sentence must be severe and decisive."

Lacroix was found guilty of 51 fraud charges last December after being accused of siphoning $115 million from Norbourg accounts through 137 transactions.

The ex-president of Norbourg Investments filed an eleventh-hour appeal last Thursday, arguing the province's financial regulations laws are unconstitutional because they impose penalties similar to criminal charges.

Leblond rejected that argument Monday and went ahead with Lacroix's sentencing, as previously scheduled.

The Norbourg trial is the largest financial legal case in Quebec history and will set an important precedent for investment fraud.

The trial was delayed over 18 months because of procedural delays, including Lacroix's failed bid to obtain legal aid after he declared bankruptcy.

Cold comfort to investors

Some 9,200 Norbourg investors were affected by the financial fiasco, but just over 900 were able to recuperate any of their investments.

For many Quebec investors who lost their life savings, Lacroix's sentence provides little relief.

"It doesn't matter how many charges there are, it won't put any money back in my pocket," said Michel Vézina, 69, who lost about $300,000 in the Norbourg scam and was forced to find a job after retiring briefly.

"That's a life worth of work," he told CBC's French language service shortly after the sentence came down.

"If I had met [Lacroix] face to face, I would have said, 'My God... my God.'"

Investors filed a class-action lawsuit in 2006 seeking damages, but they say the process is moving at a snail's pace.

"They told me it would take four years," said Wilhelm B. Pellemans, a spokesman for Norbourg investors. "Here we are, 2½ years later, and nothing has happened," he told CBC's French-language service on Monday prior to sentencing.

Some investors who joined the lawsuit want the province to intervene, including Vézina.

"I think I'll be dead by the time this affair is sorted out," he declared.