Aside from possibly receiving higher rates of returns on investments than the general market records, investors also didn’t take into account that Earl Jones’s company, which was in business for some 20 years, was not a registered financial institution.
The Autorité des marchés financiers, as of last Thursday, ordered a stop to all activity with Earl Jones Corp. and froze his bank accounts, or what is left of them, and has started a probe. On a few answering machines, a message posted last Friday informs investors Jones’ company is not in a position to remit any funds and that they will only get in touch with them after 30 days. The door to the Earl Jones Consultant & Administration Corporation office on Holiday Avenue has been shut for about a week.
If Earl Jones allegedly operated in total illegality for so many years, it boggles the mind why nothing was done about in until last week after cheques started bouncing. Quebec and Canadian financial regulators as well as governments that set up guidelines need to a better job of protecting consumers. This latest Montreal financial fiasco falls on the heels of the Groupe Norbourg case, where its former CEO Vincent Lacroix was convicted in December 2007 of 51 Quebec Securities Act violations for swindling 9,200 investors of about $115 million. Believe it or not, Lacroix, granted a $5,000 bail and a $50,000 undertaking last week though he hasn’t been released pending payment, is to be sent to a halfway house for nine months after serving a sixth of his eight-and-a-half-year sentence. Lacroix is still going to trial this fall to face some 200 Criminal Code charges of conspiracy, forgery, fraud and money laundering.
While there may not be any physical violence in white-collar financial crimes, people are being violated, and for some, their life-savings vanish leaving them in dire straits. The laws must be set so the punishment fits the crime. If a person is convicted of stealing millions through financial fraud, the sentence should be tougher than what is seemingly on the books in Canada. The recent Bernie Madoff case in the United States, where he was sentenced to 150 years for running an unprecedented Ponzi scheme, sends the right message.
Financial fiasco
Financial fiasco
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- Published on July 15th, 2009
- Published on Febuary 6th, 2010
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Carter Haydu
Times-Herald
Where in the world is Earl Jones?
Buyer beware is a phrase so often repeated it seems cliché but dozens of investors who signed on with Pointe Claire-based financial advisor Earl Jones are regretting not thinking twice about their dealings since about $50 million in his clients’ funds– and the money manager himself – are reportedly missing. The investors are apparently victims of a Ponzi scheme, where returns to investors are paid through their own funds or money paid by subsequent investors, not from any actual profits.
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Comments
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- michel plaisent
- - February 17th, 2010 at 14:18:14
i would like to contact an old friend of mine Line maybe secretary about 40 years old blond hairs summer dancer on the mountain who have at least on children working in westmount examiner please help me many thanks
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- michel plaisent
- - February 10th, 2010 at 12:55:41
i would like to contact an old friend of mine Line maybe secretary about 40 years old blond hairs summer dancer on the mountain who have at least on children working in westmount examiner please help me many thanks
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- David Maye
- - February 8th, 2010 at 11:14:55
As look qs we have soft Canadian laws people wi take advantage. We can probsbly learn alot from countries like China. They execute drug dealers and charge the family for the bullet. David Maye..Pointe Claire
