MONTREAL - Dozens of people who lost their life savings to a fraudulent financial planner travelled from Montreal to Toronto Tuesday morning to launch a protest against the Royal Bank of Canada.
Victims of Earl Jones boarded a bus in Pointe Claire before dawn for a trip down Highway 401, and they headed to the RBC head offices on Bay St. for a noon-hour protest.
In July 2010, the victims were given court approval to launch a $40 million class-action lawsuit against the bank.
They argue the RBC branch on St. Charles Blvd. in Beaconsfield turned a blind eye to Jones's ponzi scheme and allowed him to make withdrawals from RRSPs and mortgages.
Over nearly 30 years, Jones swindled 150 clients out of nearly $50 million, usually by taking a large lump sum and promising them substantial returns.
In many cases, Jones convinced people to take out mortgages on their homes in order to make investments.
However, the unregistered financial planner was really operating a ponzi scheme.
He never invested any of his clients' money, and instead gave them back a portion of their investment each month, as well as using the money to support his own lifestyle.
In order to keep his scheme going, Jones recruited new investors – including his brother – through word of mouth, and used their money to pay off other investors.
Jones also forged signatures in order to make withdrawals, and the victims say that internal documents from the branch indicate that Jones's misdeeds were known to bank managers.
His scheme fell apart in 2009 when several accounts were frozen because cheques were bouncing.
Jones went into hiding in June 2009, and after spending weeks out of sight, he surrendered to police and confessed to swindling his clients.
In February 2010 Jones was sentenced to 11 years in prison on two counts of fraud.
He will be eligible for parole in December 2011.
