The Earl Jones Corporation was officially declared bankrupt Wednesday as new details emerged about lavish spending by the self-proclaimed financier and his wife in the months leading up to his arrest in a massive fraud scheme.

A judge at the Montreal courthouse granted the bankruptcy petition on behalf of investors who were trying to seize Jones' assets. They want to recoup as much as $50 million that went missing and was apparently spent rather than being invested as promised.

Interim receiver Gilles Robillard said Wednesday that little money is left in Jones' accounts -- perhaps as little as $30,000.

It also emerged that Jones and his wife Maxine spent $50,000 to $70,000 a month for items including airline tickets, dinners, hotels and salaries.

"There was some substantial cheques paid both to himself and his wife," Robillard told CTV's Rob Lurie at the courthouse.

"There were also substantial credit card payments on a monthly basis -- I would say more than $50,000 a month,"

Robillard says it appears that Jones cashed in all of his personal investments, RRSPs and life insurance in January.

When asked if that was a sign that Jones knew his scheme was collapsing, Robillard replied: "he has been seeing this coming for quite a while."

Robillard added that the fraud appears to be a Ponzi scheme that paid returns to investors either from their own money or from money paid by other investors.

Jones, 67, had been on the lam for three weeks before police arrested him on Monday. He was freed Tuesday afternoon on $30,000 bail and made a dramatic exit from the courthouse as a throng of police officers escorted him to a car while angry investors heckled and shouted at him.

Jones will return to court in September to face four charges each of theft and fraud. More charges are expected to be laid in connection with about 200 investors.

Protest

As promised, investors held a rally at the courthouse Wednesday morning to coincide with the bankruptcy hearing. They demanded politicians impose tougher jail sentences for fraudsters.

Jones might only serve two to three years in jail even if he receives a lengthy fraud sentence, given that non-violent Canadian inmates are eligible for parole after serving as little as one-sixth of their sentence.

Lost everything

One of the investors at the rally, who says her mother lost everything in the scheme, told CTV News that the family is suffering.

"It's emotional because I watched her work her entire life," said Cherie Beluse.

"She lived on very little per month but she had the knowledge that she had this security, and now that is gone.

"And every night she wakes up at 3 in the morning feeling like she got punched in the gut."

Fundraiser

Investors say they are going to work on some type of a fundraiser for the people who lost their life savings, though they're not confident about recouping any of their money.