**Published Oct 14, 2025 • 3-minute read**
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MONTREAL — A Quebec Superior Court judge has mandated that a man pay $5,000 for the improper use of artificial intelligence in his court defense.
Jean Laprade was fined after it was revealed that he had referenced expert quotes and legal precedents that do not exist.
This ruling is the latest development in a legal battle that began in 2019, stemming from a business deal during Laprade’s time in Guinea. He sought to challenge a 2021 ruling by the Paris International Arbitration Chamber, which ordered him to pay approximately $2.7 million for an aircraft he claimed was awarded to him as part of a business arrangement.
The court found that Laprade’s defense included numerous pieces of fabricated information generated by artificial intelligence, including fictitious citations and rulings. The Quebec court upheld the previous decision against him and imposed an additional $5,000 fine for his misuse of AI.
Justice Luc Morin, in a decision issued in late September, acknowledged that while Laprade intended to defend himself to the best of his ability using AI, his actions were nonetheless “highly reprehensible.” He stated, “He must bear alone all the opprobrium resulting from quotations ‘hallucinated’ by artificial intelligence on which he relied to generate his contestation.”
**A LEGAL SAGA SPANNING SIX YEARS**
The judge emphasized the necessity of concluding Laprade’s six-year legal saga, which has unfolded across three continents and contains elements that could inspire a successful movie script. According to the ruling, Laprade received three helicopters and an aircraft following the conclusion of the business deal in Guinea. However, a contractual error granted him an aircraft of significantly greater value than what was originally agreed upon, leading to accusations that he “diverted” it to Quebec.
Laprade has persistently resisted the efforts of two aviation companies involved in the case.