MONTREAL — Earl Jones, the man suspected of defrauding dozens of investors of their life savings, was arrested Monday at his lawyer’s Montreal office.
Jeffrey Boro said his client has been taken by police to a detention centre and will be arraigned Tuesday on several theft and fraud charges.
“He’s pretty down,” Mr. Boro said. “But he realizes he has to face up to this.”
Mr. Boro said MR. Jones “has been in Quebec, not far away” since the controversy broke.
Quebec provincial police arrested and handcuffed Mr. Jones, 67, during a prearranged meeting.
“He got into the car with his head down,” Mr. Boro said. “It wasn’t the most pleasant experiences of his life.”
Mr. Jones’s wife and two daughters were not with him.
[More]
Like all accused, Jones is innocent until proved guilty. “Nough said?
Comments like Mr. Boro made about Jones having to “face up to this” give the impression of guilt. How the media love to see a high roller pulled down…
True enough, Mac. We don’t know what really happened. Maybe he invested with that jerk in the states that was just sent to jail for life.
We need to wait for it.
True, although if Jones didn’t do it then why did he run? There are plenty of advisers who lost their clients’ shirts over the past year and simply declared such. They made a few enemies to be sure but they didn’t break the law, hence no reason to run.
Is there somewhere we can look at the earnings, Jack? Ponzi schemers often give away their scams by not varying the earning enough during down markets.
In one way, I’m glad to see guys like Madoff and Jones getting tumbled since that might remind some of the high rollers that they cannot act with impunity; they are not above the law.
The problem is the media and many petty folks don’t see it that way. They just see a high roller getting what they feel is the just desserts; greed rewarded, so to speak…. and they use the widest brush possible so everyone with two cents to rub together are guilty by extension.
“Is there somewhere we can look at the earnings, Jack?”
I don’t know, Cynapse. That’s your area of expertise. I wouldn’t know where to start but if you do find something my readers will be “all ears” (big grin).
“True, although if Jones didn’t do it then why did he run?”
Maybe he panicked. That happens you know.
The best article I found so far describes Jones’ scheme as being similar to Madoff’s.
In that case, the accused did a straight ponzi: take the investment, pay back an abnormal amount of interest that remains steady no matter what the economic conditions (dead giveaway) and issue false transaction statements. These schemes die eventually because they’re dependent on perpetually finding a larger pool of new investors whose principal is used to pay the interest of existing investors. This is not rocket science – the hardest part is making people believe that you are a credible investor.
The reason Jones, Madoff (and probably many others) are getting caught is because the poor economic conditions are eroding the pool of new suckers, while existing suckers need their investments back to pay off mounting debts. Just another way that this economic downturn isn’t all grey skies.
Yeah, what Cynapse said ! Plus, yes I can give the guy the presumption of innocence before being found guilty, and if I was on a jury I could put aside whatever I read so far about the case and just look at the evidence put in front of me: That is if I was on a jury, at the moment not being in a position to have to be an actual decider of his guilt or innocence I can have the ” opinion ” that he is guilty as hell but I could change my mind if proof of his innocence comes out. ( Incredible incompetence and or negligence rather than an actual fraud ??? ).
Anyway I think we can form an opinion about his guilt at this time as being a high probability but wait for proof before considering it a certainty.