A former financial controller of greenhouse grower Les Serres Nouvelles Cultures Inc. and Les Serres Sagami 2000 Inc. has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for defrauding her employer of at least $350,000 between 2007 and 2011.
Court was told that Stéphanie Giroux-Cloutier, who had started at the company as an intern, used forged signatures on cheques, unauthorized bank withdrawals and company credit cards to add an average of $6,368 a month to her salary over a period of more than four years.
Giroux-Cloutier, who pleaded guilty to fraud in Quebec Court in St-Jérôme, testified her boss’s refusal to give her a raise led her to commit the initial fraud, but she continued even after getting a raise in 2009.