Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté fined $24,000 in Tahiti over cannabis use

PAPEETE, French Polynesia – A representative for Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté says the Canadian entrepreneur has been fined about $24,000 for cannabis possession in French Polynesia.

Anne Dongois says a court in Papeete, on Tahiti's northwestern coast, found Laliberté guilty on Tuesday of possessing and using cannabis.

She says he was cleared of any other infractions.

Laliberté was originally taken into custody by authorities in Tahiti in 2019 over claims of cannabis cultivation.

Lune Rouge, a Montreal-based entrepreneurial organization headed by Laliberté, said at the time that he was being questioned about cannabis grown for personal use on his private island in the French collectivity of islands in the South Pacific.

The organization added that Laliberté was a medical cannabis user but he denied any involvement in selling or trafficking of controlled substances.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2024.