Stressed, No Kidding!

Stressed? Who wouldn't be under those circumstances. Circumstances entirely of his own making, but there it is.

He was described as 'despondent', when he surrendered himself to Montreal Police so they could question him on 'suspicion' of 'alleged' criminal manipulation of other peoples' investment funds. People whom he had cultivated over decades, become close personal friends with, was intimate with generations within their families, who trusted in his professionalism to safeguard their wealth.

Not that all were wealthy by any means. Some were people who had accumulated retirement funds that they hoped would see them through a bit of comfort and financial ease in their last decades of life. He was, in short, a person of social and professional stature, one of whom it is said - mostly when things go awry and are reported on dolefully when such matters are revealed - "he was a pillar of his community".

Alas, pillars lose structural integrity and with time crumble. The integrity of that particular pillar was perhaps always a facade, and those hundreds of people, including extended family, placed their trust in a sham. Caveat emptor speaks to human trust; it warns that things may not always be as they appear, that due diligence should be employed to avoid disaster, small or large. But how to shield oneself from belief in the trustworthiness of a friend?

Now in handcuffs the 67-year-old Earl Jones is 'stressed', according to his layer. Who hastens to add that he seeks no sympathy on behalf of his client, who is manfully and responsibly making himself available to questioning, ready to stand before a court of law for justice to be done. Many desperate people facing bankruptcy, express a poverty of imagination in new-found hope their money may be recovered.

Their erstwhile personal friend and confidant, now in custody, elicits their scorn, and they robustly cheer witnessing his new, chastened demeanor. "I would just like to have an understanding of how he could have betrayed us", said one thoughtful victim of this man's avarice. This man's company was never registered with Quebec's financial regulator. In a classic slamming of the barn door, the regular has frozen all of Earl Jones's bank accounts.

The accounts, unfortunately were void of funds, and as such the hopes of his victims are on the verge of collapse. Missing funds are placed broadly in the range of between $30-million to $100-million. That's a lot of money to disappear, leaving no trace.