Bruce Bergez was found guilty of civil and criminal contempt by an Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Hamilton this week.

The former optician and founder of the Great Glasses eyewear chain, together with wife and business partner Joanne Bergez owe more than $60 million in fines after being convicted four years ago for breaking the province's laws governing the prescription and sale of corrective lenses. This week, Justice James Turnbull confirmed the contempt charge, and the eyewear chain’s 20 locations were ordered into receivership after three days of hearings.

In Ontario, glasses can only be dispensed with a prescription from an optometrist or doctor. Employees of Bergez have dispensed them based on a computerized eye test, a practice he defended in court.

Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, the College of Optometrists and the College of Opticians had asked that Bruce Bergez be given a two-year jail sentence, and Joanne Bergez a one-year jail term, for their ongoing contempt of court after a 2006 ruling found the couple guilty of ignoring the dispensing legislation. At the time, the couple was fined $1 million plus an additional $50,000 for each day since the ruling that they have not been in compliance with the law. The fine is now a record for Canadian civil contempt cases.

The receivers for Great Glasses will be instructed to remove the EyeLogic autorefractors that were used for the free eye exams the chain offered (which were not performed by individuals licensed to do so), and will report back to the courts August 23 with their findings.