Investors in alleged Montreal Ponzi scheme discuss class action suit

About 60 clients of missing financial adviser Earl Jones were meeting at a hotel in Montreal Friday to get an update on the legal proceedings against him, including a possible class action lawsuit.

Jones is suspected of using a Ponzi scheme to bilk investors out of approximately $50 million.

Several west island social services and support groups were also at the meeting, along with local politicians, to assess the immediate, basic needs of Jones's investors now struggling to make ends meet.

Without their investment income, several investors said they're now struggling to pay rent.

Neil Stein, the insolvency lawyer who's taken on the job of bringing Jones's corporation into bankruptcy, was also at the meeting. Stein said he'd try to pick clean the company assets and share them among his clients.

Meeting organizers said they fear the corporation may be little more than a hollow shell at this point, adding that they would also discuss the possibility of a class action civil suit, to try to go after Jones's personal assets.

Jones has not been charged, and the allegations against him have not been proven in court.