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MONTREAL SWINGERS CLUB OWNER FINED $1.4 MILLION FOR TAX EVASION

When Labaye’s appeal of a conviction for operating a common bawdy house made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it garnered national attention and made him famous for running the swingers club L’Orage

The Revenue Department of Quebec imposed a $1.4 million fine against a Montreal non-profit administrator who formerly ran a swingers club that made headlines.

Club L’Orage owner Jean-Paul Labaye and his assistant, Mapie, speak to reporters at a news conference in Montreal Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000. A Montreal non-profit administrator who once operated a headline-grabbing swingers club has been fined $1.4 million by Revenu Québec. The tax agency says Labaye, the sole director of non-profit Cercle réciproque, was also sentenced to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty to tax-related charges. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

According to Revenu Québec, Jean-Paul Labaye, the only director of the charitable organization Cercle réciproque, was also given a 12-month prison term after pleading guilty to crimes relating to taxes. When Labaye’s appeal of a conviction for operating a common bawdy house made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it garnered national attention and made him famous for running the swingers club L’Orage. When the court determined in 2005 that consenting individuals who engage in sexual behavior behind closed doors are not committing indecent acts or damaging society, it opened the door for such clubs.

Jean-Paul Labaye at the Montreal courthouse in January 1999. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, his bar L’Orage was raided several times by police. Charges of operating a bawdy house were filed. PHOTO BY DAVE SIDAWAY /Montreal Gazette

Labaye and Cercle réciproque, according to Revenu Québec, failed to pay sales tax, provincial income tax, and federal income tax from 2016 to 2019. Labaye pled guilty to 16 counts, and the verdict was announced on April 25 in Montreal. – Steve Sijenyi

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