RBC, brokers smacked down over Earl Jones
Two brokers have been fined and suspended and RBC Dominion Securities has been fined over how they handled the Earl Jones account while he was carrying out the scams that defrauded clients of $40 million.
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steph 20:05 on 2012/08/13 Permalink
While I do feel a little sorry for the victims, they must have been as greedy to have blindly accepted Earl Jone’s fake promises of high profits. I wonder how many of them have refiled their past taxes without the fake gains — should be a fat refund from the government.
Kate 20:33 on 2012/08/13 Permalink
There were some stories about the tax issues, back when the Jones debacle was hot news. Here is one.
Some may have been greedy, but so many of his clients were old folks, typically widows who didn’t have a realistic clue how to manage money, that I don’t think his customers’ greed was the driving force. In fact, Jones was likely relying on most of his clients making modest financial requests while he dipped into their funds for his own expenses and to pay other customers off as he went along.
Bill Binns 08:40 on 2012/08/14 Permalink
An elderly woman in my neighborhood is one of the victims. I don’t know her personally but know many people who do. The story goes that she had invested all of her savings with Jones for a number of years and received checks from him on a monthly basis without problems. Not long before the whole thing unravled, he convinced her to take out a mortgage on the home she owned free and clear and had lived in for decades. His whole pitch was “don’t you want to leave something behind for your grandchildren?”
The checks she had been receiving from Jones were her only income. She lost her life savings and her home. Luckily, the mortgage wasn’t for the full value of the home. She was left with enough to maintain herself in a small rented apartment (as long as she doesn’t live too long).
Not exactly greedy on her part. Gullible maybe but she trusted someone who had been sending her money for years.
Ian 18:53 on 2012/08/14 Permalink
It’s a true and poignant observation that often it’s the elderly that fall victim to these kinds of grifters.