A Canadian men's court battle to recover a million-dollar cache is lost
A Canadian men's court battle to recover a million-dollar cache is lost.
After a 16-year legal battle to recover more than C$1.2 million (£651,000) in cash taken from his home, a Canadian man has lost.
During a 2009 search for an illicit firearm and a variety of drugs, police discovered the substantial sum of money hidden in several locations around Marcel Breton's home in northwest Ontario.
After arguing that the search of his property had been illegal, Breton was acquitted at a retrial after being found guilty of several charges.
However, his chances of recovering the money were eliminated earlier this week when an Ontario appeals court affirmed a 2023 decision that determined the majority of the confiscated funds should go to the Canadian government.
The trial court had determined that the money discovered near Breton's land was not legally his.
Police found bundles of cash totalling $15,000 in the living room's underfloor heating ducts, C$1,235,620 buried beneath his garage, and C$32,000 hidden elsewhere in the garage.
The trial judge specifically stated that it was "unusual for an average person to have such a large amount of money buried in tubs underneath their property," that the cash was found close to drugs and drug paraphernalia, and that the most common denomination was C$20, which an expert claimed was frequently associated with the drug trade.
According to the judgement, Breton failed to declare any income to the revenue office between 2001 and 2008.
However, the appeals court upheld the decision to restore the $15,000 that was discovered inside his home's vents to him since the judge could not rule out that it had been obtained legally because it was not packed in consistent denominations like the cash found in the garage.
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