Notice of Violation: Jimmy Genesse

File No.: PDR 9110-2020-00602

To: Jimmy Genesse

Issue Date of Notice: 13 August 2025

Summary of investigation

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is responsible for the administration of sections 6 to 46 of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (the Act^{Footnote 1}), and CRTC staff investigates potential violations pursuant to the Act.

CRTC staff investigated a series of email account compromises which included the altering of transmission data, constituting violations of paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Act.

Paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Act states in part that:

7 (1) It is prohibited, in the course of a commercial activity, to alter or cause to be altered the transmission data in an electronic message so that the message is delivered to a destination other than or in addition to that specified by the sender, unless

(a) the alteration is made with the express consent of the sender or the person to whom the message is sent (…).

Pursuant to section 22 of the Act, a Notice of Violation (NOV) has been served on Jimmy Genesse for committing seven violations of paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Act.

Between 29 September 2020 and 4 April 2023, Jimmy Genesse redirected 49,819 electronic messages intended for seven third parties. The investigation revealed that personal information, including account usernames and passwords was obtained by Jimmy Genesse and then used to access the email accounts of unsuspecting third parties. Once the accounts were accessed, forwarding rules were added in the account settings so that emails intended for the third parties were sent to Jimmy Genesse, without the express consent of the senders or recipients.

In accordance with section 13 of the Act, the person who alleges that they have consent to do an act that would otherwise be prohibited under any of sections 6 to 8 has the onus of proving it. There was no evidence obtained during the investigation to indicate that Jimmy Genesse obtained the necessary consent to alter the transmission data in the electronic messages intended for third parties.

Information and evidence to support this investigation was gathered from multiple sources – including Notices to Produce pursuant to section 17 of the Act, and execution of warrants pursuant to section 19 of the Act – and provided reasonable grounds to believe that Jimmy Genesse is liable for seven violations of paragraph 7(1)(a) of the Act.

Based on the information gathered in the investigation, the person designated by the CRTC has issued a Notice of Violation, setting an administrative monetary penalty of $50,000 to Jimmy Genesse.

Caveat:

A person who is served with an NOV has the opportunity to make representations before the Commission with respect to the amount of the penalty or the alleged violations pursuant to sections 24 and 25 of the Act and may further bring an appeal in the Federal Court of Appeal from a decision rendered by the Commission pursuant to section 27 of the Act.

A person who is served with an NOV has also the opportunity to enter into an undertaking in connection to these acts and omissions pursuant to subsection 21(4) of the Act, under the conditions provided by subsection 21(2) of the Act.

Date modified:

2025-08-13