Mirabel, March 8, 2017. It is around 10 p.m. Nicholas Tsouflidis is about to go to bed when two people burst into his home. The next morning, Nicholas found himself at the side of a road in Laval. The president of Chez Cora was kidnapped and left to himself, tied up and confused. Why? Let’s summarize the story and try to find some leads as a trial is scheduled for this fall.
Now 48, Nicholas is the president of the popular breakfast chain founded by his mother, Cora Tsouflidou. He has been in this role since 2008. Tsouflidis has been involved in the family business from a young age and has worked his way up the ranks one by one. He is the youngest of the family, also having a brother, Theoharis, and a sister, Gigi.
They are also involved in the business. At least they were. In court documents prepared after the investigation, which lasted a year and a half, we learn that within the family itself, an internal war was raging.
According to the allegations, Theoharis had drinking problems which bothered family members. Due to his misconduct and a bad relationship with his mother, he would not have received the full payment of profits paid to shareholders in the winter of 2017.
And that partial sum, $ 50,000 instead of $ 200,000, was paid just weeks before the kidnapping.
Nicholas told police the kidnappers were discussing $ 50,000 on the drive to an unknown destination, and his kidnapping was related to a $ 200,000 bad rap.
In his counterattack, Theoharis claims that his brother Nicholas prepared his kidnapping himself. What purpose? Discrediting his older brother as he tried to re-join the board or sell his shares, if applicable.
Through their discussions with the two family clans, the police discovered more than a family quarrel. Indeed, the entity responsible for franchisees had difficulty starting with a large number of partners. Due to ever higher fees and new internal policies, many franchisees have had to file for bankruptcy.
As a result, a former franchisee, Paul Zaida, was arrested in the fall of 2018 in connection with the kidnapping. He is the one facing the charges, six to be exact, including kidnapping, forcible confinement and extortion.
Zaidan was one of the very unhappy franchisees of the actions of the parent company of Chez Cora. He managed a branch of this chain until 2014. According to several sources, he lost significant sums of money in the adventure.
This is probably what would have prompted him, three years later, to kidnap Nicholas and demand a large sum of money.
So, tonight in March 2017, who decided or ordered this kidnapping?
