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Earl Jones is a financial planner from Montreal who has gone missing with at least $30-million, leaving his clients in a frantic stateJohn Morstad/The Globe and Mail

The disgraced Montreal financier Earl Jones may be in the United States, a family friend said Wednesday, amid news that the collapse of Mr. Jones's firm was forcing elderly widows to sell their homes and turn to a food bank.

Hours after the authorities shut down Mr. Jones's investment operations last Friday on suspicion that he might be running a Ponzi scheme, the long-time family friend called the condo of Mr. Jones's eldest daughter, Kim, in Massachusetts.

Kim Jones lives in a complex for adults with learning disabilities in Hyannis, Mass., and the friend, who knew her, asked where her father was.

"Daddy is coming to pick me up in an hour," Kim Jones told the friend.

The intriguing phone conversation raised the possibility that Mr. Jones and his wife, Maxine, who haven't been seen publicly in a week, may have left Montreal for the United States.

It would also undercut a previous report that Mr. Jones was seen by a flight attendant on a British Airways flight to London's Heathrow Airport.

Mr. Jones and his wife regularly spent the summer in a cottage in a suburb of Kennebunkport, Maine, the family friend said, expressing skepticism about the likelihood that the financier left for London.

Meanwhile, a week after bounced cheques and missed payments signalled the downfall of his financial firm, the results of the collapse were evident as several elderly investors - widows - turned to community groups because they were running out of food and medication.

Quebec's financial regulator alleges that an estimated $30-million to $50-million of investors' money was embezzled.

The investors now in financial limbo include Mr. Jones's own brother, Bevan, and Bunny Storey, the widow of legendary hockey referee Red Storey.

"I haven't slept since this happened. Our whole family is shattered on so many levels," said Ginny Nelles, whose family has known Mr. Jones for 50 years.

A charming, white-haired grandfather, Mr. Jones was a godfather to a member of Ms. Nelles's family and someone she considered an uncle, who was present at weddings and funerals. He had been her late father's co-worker in the estate-planning department of Montreal Trust in the 1960s.

Both Ms. Nelles and her brother invested with Mr. Jones. Her brother is now struggling to meet the down payment for a home he just purchased.

"It's an absolute nightmare," Ms. Nelles said. "I have no more savings. My nest egg is gone. We can manage on a day-to-day basis. I don't know if we'll be able to manage our life in three months."

Her mother is also in financial trouble. When Ms. Nelles's father died, Mr. Jones attended the funeral. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you," he told Ms. Nelles's mother, according to her son-in-law, Robert.

Robert said Mr. Jones convinced the elder Mrs. Nelles to mortgage her house and let him invest the money. Now, the 69-year-old Mrs. Nelles may have to sell her house.

Like Mrs. Nelles, many widows entrusted him with their finances.

Six of them had to turn to the Sun Youth community organization for assistance. All are in their late 70s; two who are wheelchair bound.

"I'm sure we're going to hear from other people," said Sun Youth co-founder Sid Stevens. "Earl Jones handled all their assets, all their bills.

"We'll do everything we can so they don't hit the pavement."

Mr. Jones's disappearance came weeks after his second daughter, Kristine Jones Velan, gave birth to her third child.

The lights are on at Ms. Jones Velan's Westmount home, but she won't answer her phone, a friend said.

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