Key Takeaways

  • RCMP officers searched Lion Electric’s Saint-Jérôme headquarters in an investigation into the company’s past activities.
  • The probe began after police received complaints from more than 100 investors; no arrests or charges were expected at this stage.
  • Lion Electric filed for creditor protection in December 2024, and Quebec lost roughly $140 million invested in the company.

The RCMP have searched the Saint-Jérôme, Quebec headquarters of electric bus maker Lion Electric as part of an investment fraud investigation into the company's past activities — the latest chapter in the collapse of a company once held up as a flagship of Canada's electric-vehicle industry.

The search

Dozens of officers from the RCMP's Integrated Market Enforcement Team searched Lion Electric's facilities north of Montreal on Wednesday, October 21. An RCMP spokesperson, Cpl. Martina Pillarova, said the search could last several days given the size of the premises, and that no arrests or charges were expected at this stage.

The investigation began in February 2025, after police received complaints from more than 100 investors. Pillarova stressed that the operation relates to the company's past activities and has no connection to its current owner.

A company that already collapsed

Lion Electric built electric school buses and trucks and went public in 2021, attracting major public backing as it expanded. But the company struggled to scale up, and in December 2024 it filed for creditor protection. It was sold in 2025 for a fraction of its former value to a group of Quebec investors. The Quebec government lost its roughly $140-million investment in the company.

Separately, Quebec's financial regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers, announced last week that investor Claude Roy — who had ties to Lion — admitted to selling company shares in the six weeks before the creditor protection filing, avoiding nearly $800,000 in losses. He was given a $1.1-million penalty.

What happens next

The RCMP investigation is ongoing. Police have not announced any charges, and the allegations under investigation have not been proven in court.

Sources

Photo: 42-BRT / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) — a Lion Electric LionC electric school bus.

Sources