Some 150 Sûreté du Québec officers conducted 15 searches Wednesday morning, in Montreal, Quebec and Sherbrooke as part of a $90-million fraud investigation.
About 70 investigators from Revenue Quebec were also executing 12 search warrants Wednesday.
Police said the fraud revolved around the selling of 1,100 franchises that sold an information technology product.
In the majority of cases, the 450 investors knew there was a fraud because the amount they paid for the franchise didn’t correspond to the amount listed on the bill, said SQ spokesperson Joyce Kemp.
Some of the investors then filed false claims with Revenue Quebec for tax deductions, she said.
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The investigation was conducted by the SQ’s Service des enquêtes sur la criminalité contre l’État in collaboration with Revenue Quebec and the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF).
