The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) staged a significant presence at the Lion Electric facilities in Saint-Jérôme on Wednesday morning to carry out a series of searches.
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Martina Pilarova revealed that they had received numerous complaints from more than 100 investors, prompting an investigation into potential investment fraud that commenced in February 2025.
Pilarova emphasized that the operation specifically pertains to the company’s previous activities and does not target its current operations under new ownership, stressing that it focuses solely on past events.
The search, expected to be lengthy due to the size of the facilities, is not anticipated to result in any immediate arrests or charges, as clarified by Cpl. Pilarova.
After facing financial challenges, the former owners of Lion Electric sought protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in late 2024. Subsequently, the company was acquired by a consortium of Quebec entrepreneurs in the spring of 2025.
Lion Electric, particularly its former executives, is currently embroiled in a class-action lawsuit brought by retail investors who allege being misled during the period of the company’s public trading. These investors, who suffered significant losses, claim they were given false information by the company’s leadership at the time.
Moreover, the Quebec government, which had previously backed Lion Electric in the battery sector’s development, incurred a loss of $140 million.
On October 13, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) disclosed that it had settled with investor Claude Roy following an investigation concerning the improper use of privileged information related to Lion Electric Company’s securities, in violation of the Securities Act.
The settlement involved an “administrative penalty” of almost $1.11 million for Roy, who also faced a two-year ban from trading in financial markets or engaging in any sector-related activities.
Roy confessed to trading Lion securities based on privileged information about the company’s potential acquisition and impending CCAA filing, executing transactions that helped him avoid losses amounting to nearly $800,000.
