Quebec provincial police have arrested Earl Jones, the Canadian financial adviser wanted by authorities for allegedly swindling clients out of as much as $50 million.
Jones, who disappeared a few weeks ago, surrendered to police at his lawyer's office in downtown Montreal on Monday at around 1 p.m. He was silent as detectives led him out of the office tower in handcuffs to an unmarked police car, which drove him to a detention centre.
Later in the day, his lawyer, Jeffrey Boro, said Jones "wasn't very happy," but "was resigned to the fact that he has to face these charges."
"I don't know what's happened with the money," Boro added. "I have a good idea, but I would prefer to wait until the police have completed their investigation."
Montreal authorities revealed they were looking for Jones earlier this month, after his accounts were frozen by Quebec's securities regulator. That move came after some of his clients alleged they hadn't received interest cheques on their investments.
The Autorite des marches financiers has said it believes between $30 million and $50 million is missing from accounts run by Jones, and that he engaged in a type of fraud that has the appearance of a Ponzi scheme.
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays abnormally high returns out of an investor's own money or from money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from profits earned through actual investments.
His namesake firm, Earl Jones Consultant and Administration Corp., has been shut down by Quebec investigators and is expected to begin bankruptcy proceedings on Wednesday.
Jonathan Rosenthal, a Toronto-based criminal lawyer, told CTV News Channel that under Canadian bankruptcy law, Jones has some obligation to divulge his company's finances. But he said those obligations won't likely shed light on what happened to the money that clients invested with his firm.
"Those obligations run contrary to what happens in a criminal proceeding," because of Jones' right against self-incrimination, Rosenthal said. "I don't think we're going to find out in very, very short order where the money is and what happened."
Last week, Jones' lawyer told CTV Montreal that his client had gone into hiding after receiving death threats from angry financial clients.
A statement issued last week by Jones' family claimed they were unaware of the alleged scheme and that they had lost money too.
None of the allegations against Jones have been proven in court. He's scheduled to be arraigned on charges of fraud and theft on Tuesday.
"I think that this is good news -- finally we know where Earl is," said Ginny Nelles, a friend of the Jones' family who had much of her own family's savings entrusted to his firm. "This opens up a dialogue and we can start hopefully having some answers to what's been going on."
"My brother and I are young, we'll rebuild our lives. But how could he have done this to my mother?" Nelles asked.
A rally for victims of white-collar crime is being organized for Wednesday, in front of the courthouse that will handle the bankruptcy proceedings of Jones' company.
The protest organizers say they want to send a message to politicians, that they want changes to the laws that deal with this kind of crime.
According to Rosenthal, under Canadian law the maximum sentence that Jones faces is 10 years in prison.
With files from The Canadian Press
