3 plead guilty in network of temp agencies that hid asylum seeker's work accident

Verity Stevenson · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 12, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

Three radical accused of moving fraudulent temp agencies that exploited asylum seekers — and who attempted to conceal a enactment mishap aboriginal uncovered by a 2018 CBC probe — person pleaded guilty. 

Quebec's Labour Ministry has called the strategy the "largest fraud ever committed" against it and has estimated authorities losses astatine astir $635,000 arsenic a effect of the operation.

Hector Hair Rodriguez Contreras, 56, Hector Lopez Ramos, 51, and Beatriz Adriana Guerrero Munoz, 45, were each initially charged with fraud of much than $5,000 against the Quebec and Canadian governments and conspiracy to perpetrate fraud of much than $5,000.

Rodriguez Contreras pleaded blameworthy to those charges successful April, astir 3 weeks earlier his proceedings successful Quebec Court was acceptable to begin. 

The trio, led by Rodriguez Contreras, ran a fig of temp agencies that hired asylum seekers without enactment permits and paid them beneath minimum wage successful currency oregon cheques addressed to mendacious identities they assigned to them. 

Court documents filed aft the blameworthy pleas authorities that Quebec's Labour Ministry launched probes into the temp agencies pursuing CBC's investigation.

Asylum seeker inactive successful pain

The communicative had revealed an asylum seeker was severely injured connected the occupation aft being recruited astatine a Montreal Metro presumption by a shadowy web of temp agencies. He was fixed a erstwhile worker's sanction and societal information fig to enactment nether the array astatine a nutrient processing works extracurricular the city.

Prosecutor Geneviève Bélanger said portion of the group's operations were legitimate, making it hard for the authorities to observe the fraud. 

"That was portion of the scheme. For portion of their business, if you will, they would bash things successful order, portion for different part, they wouldn't — which besides allowed them to alert nether the radar," Bélanger said successful an interrogation past week. 

The asylum seeker testified astatine the proceedings of Lopez Ramos and Guerrero Munoz successful May earlier Quebec Court Judge Rose-Mélanie Drivod. 

The apical of his manus was sliced disconnected by a nutrient slicer, that, helium told CBC astatine the time, he had not been decently shown however to use. In an exigency surgery, doctors performed a tegument graft taken from his thigh to reconstruct his hand. 

He told the tribunal that years later, he's still successful pain.

The temp bureau that hired him did not state the mishap to Quebec's workplace wellness and information board, until the second intervened pursuing CBC's communicative and forced the institution to compensate him.

The man, who is present 39 years old, said successful tribunal he'd planned to enactment successful operation successful Quebec, erstwhile helium came to Canada successful August 2017 and would person made a bully wage that way, but alternatively has been moving arsenic a commercialized information defender for much than 5 years. He and his woman person 3 children with them successful Montreal. 

2 pleaded blameworthy to reduced charges

Three days into the proceedings and soon aft the worker's testimony, Lopez Ramos and Guerrero Munoz pleaded blameworthy to reduced charges of utilizing forged documents, including taxation statements, against the Quebec government. 

Bélanger said the worker's grounds was affectional and powerful. 

"It intelligibly demonstrated the hazard this benignant of happening poses erstwhile agencies don't respect [work] standards," she said. 

The statements of facts filed successful tribunal accidental that the Labour Ministry's probe, dubbed TARMAC, revealed that much than 400 of the companies' workers had besides been claiming immoderate signifier of unemployment benefits — galore of them caller immigrants who had small cognition of Quebec's enactment standards and protections. 

"The leaders of the web took vantage of the vulnerability of immoderate of the workers," the facts read. 

Martin Subak, Lopez Ramos's lawyer, says pleading blameworthy aft a proceedings has begun "is commonly done to benignant of trial a small spot the evidence."

He said portion of the crushed his lawsuit and co-accused ended up being handed lesser charges was due to the fact that "their roles were subservient" to Rodriguez Contreras. The charges against them could pb to a maximum of 2 years successful jail, portion the fraud charges against Rodriguez Contreras transportation a 14-year maximum imprisonment.

Reached by CBC Thursday, Rodriguez Contreras's lawyer, Richard Tawil, said helium didn't yet person his client's authorization to talk astir the case, fixed it was not yet closed. The accused are acceptable to re-appear connected 2 abstracted dates astatine the Montreal courthouse successful mid-July for sentencing.