Montreal police say they’ve arrested a 39-year-old suspect they say was involved in the criminal fire that tore through the unfinished mansion of one of Pornhub’s owners in April 2021.
Claudy Lafond has been charged with arson, possession of incendiary material and breaking and entering.
On April 25, 2021, Montreal police were called to a property on Jean-Bourdon Avenue in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough after two suspects were seen breaking into a residence which, at the time, was under construction.
When police arrived, a fire had begun to take hold of the home, quickly spreading from the main building to another one next to it. Neighbours were evacuated as a precautionary measure but ultimately, no injuries were reported.
The home in question was listed for sale at more than $19 million and belonged to Feras Antoon, who was one of the owners of MindGeek, the Montreal-based company known for running pornography website Pornhub. A little over a year after the home was torched, Antoon resigned from the company, staying on as a shareholder.
Two months before the arson attack, he testified before the House of Commons ethics committee which was investigating Pornhub and MindGeek over accusations that the website was hosting explicit videos of people without their consent, child pornography and sexual assault videos.
Montreal police said the long-term investigation into the fire led to the arrest of Lafond, who was already in police custody awaiting trial for attempted murder in a more recent event. He will appear at the Montreal courthouse Wednesday.
Police say the investigation into the arson attack is still ongoing and there may be more arrests down the line
Lafond has also been charged with arson for another fire set a few days earlier, on April 18, at Restaurant Chez Chantal in Saint-Calixte, Que., about 51 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
