Sue Brown never expected to spend her holidays this way.
"They were very pleasant but very difficult," she said.
Wiped out of a lifetime of savings she said she lost by investing with Earl Jones, Christmas traditions like buying gifts for her four grandchildren, were near impossible.
"They came up to me before Christmas and said to me, 'Nana, you don't have to get us anything, we know you're poor,' and I don't know if I've ever been called that before," said Brown.
Brown and her friend and neighbour Margaret Murnighan are both alleged victims of the self-described financial adviser who has been accused of bilking millions of dollars from dozens of investors.
They say they both lost almost everything.
"Oh, several hundred thousand dollars, so it's a blow to say the least," said Murnighan. "My son's birthday is in December and I said from the very beginning there'll be a few Christmas presents but it will be very modest this year."
Now working three jobs, including cleaning homes, Brown looks to a different future than she'd planned, but is coping with it nonetheless.
"It will obviously be moving in a different fashion, but at least we will move forward," she said.
Murnighan said it can be a struggle, not just financially, but emotionally.
"You go through all sorts of emotions when you realize that we were truly duped over the years," she explained.
Working closely with some of the people who say they've been devastated by investing with Earl Jones, Ann Davidson, director of the West Island Community Resource Centre, said some alleged victims continue learning to live with what happened.
"That comes with a lot of anger still. There's remorse, there's still guilt, and there's still humiliation," she said.
In July, the federal government told investors who have paid taxes on fictitious investments that they would receive a refund. None of Jones's ex-clients has seen a reimbursement thus far.
