Michael Applebaum

Michael Applebaum
42nd Mayor of Montreal
In office
November 16, 2012 – June 18, 2013
Preceded byJane Cowell-Poitras (acting)
Succeeded byJane Cowell-Poitras (acting)
Borough mayor for Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Montreal City Councillor
In office
January 1, 2002 – November 21, 2012
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded byLionel Perez
Chair of the Montreal Executive Committee
In office
April 6, 2011 – November 21, 2012
Preceded byGérald Tremblay
Succeeded byLaurent Blanchard
Montreal City Councillor for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
In office
November 6, 1994 – December 31, 2001
Preceded byClaudette Demers-Godley
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born
Michael Mark Applebaum

(1963-02-10) February 10, 1963 (age 61)
Political partyParti des Montréalais (1994-1995)
Independent (1995-1998)
Nouveau Montréal (1998-2001)
Union Montréal (2001-2012)
Independent (2012-2013)
SpouseMerle Applebaum
Residence(s)Montreal, Quebec
OccupationBusinessman, Real estate agent

Michael Mark Applebaum (born February 10, 1963) is a former Canadian politician who served as interim mayor of Montreal between his appointment by the city council on November 16, 2012, and his resignation on June 18, 2013. On June 17, 2013, he was arrested and indicted on 14 charges including fraud, conspiracy, breach of trust, and corruption in municipal affairs. He resigned the following day. On January 26, 2017, Applebaum was found guilty of eight of these charges, and subsequently sentenced to a year in prison and two years probation for extorting $60,000 worth of bribes from real estate developers as borough mayor in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce between 2006 and 2012. On June 6, 2017, Applebaum was granted parole two months after serving one-sixth of his sentence when he admitted to his crimes.

Applebaum was first elected city councillor for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on November 6, 1994, as a member of the now defunct Parti des Montréalais. In 2001, he became a founding member of the Union Montréal party and rose to prominence as part of Mayor Gérald Tremblay's administration, serving as borough mayor of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce from January 1, 2002, to November 21, 2012, and becoming chair of the city's powerful executive committee in 2011. By 2006, he operated a "stratagem of corruption" in the borough and was investigated by UPAC, Quebec's anti-corruption police force. He was appointed interim mayor by the city council after leaving the party as increased scrutiny of corruption within the administration prompted Tremblay's resignation.