Earl Jones gets 11 years for $50M Ponzi scheme

Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Montreal Gazette,

MONTREAL – Bertram Earl Jones was sentenced to 11 years in prison yesterday, and the one thing his brother wanted on this day was denied. "I couldn't get a look at his face; I just wanted to see him," Bevan Jones said. "If I was allowed, I would have run up to him to look in his eyes," he said of the sibling who robbed him of his life savings. Earl Jones made no eye contact at all when he entered Room 3.06 at the Palais de Justice, hunched over and looking the worse for wear. His hair was long and looked greasy. He wore baggy jeans, boat shoes and a greyish T-shirt under his plaid shirt. His florid complexion hinted at the high blood pressure from which he is apparently suffering.

With his wrists cuffed, he sat bent over almost double in the prisoner's dock and kept his hands up on either side of his face, occasionally wiping at his eyes.

Judge Hélène Morin handed down her sentence a month after both the Crown and the defence recommended 11 years for Jones. With good behaviour he could be out by autumn of 2011.

On Jan. 15, the disgraced money man pleaded guilty to defrauding 158 clients of $50 million in a Ponzi scheme he operated for more than two decades.

The courtroom that Jones appeared in was full to bursting, with all 56 seats taken. Cheri Beluse, the daughter of a victim, gave up her seat when she realized that Bevan Jones would not get a chance to see his baby brother on the day of judgment.

Another courtroom with a video hookup was filled to capacity with more victims, many of whom came to the courthouse in a school bus from Pointe Claire and the Cavendish Mall. That still left two dozen victims without even an image of the disgraced money man.

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Posted by Tracey on 02/16/10 at 11:43 AM • (0) Comments

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