Earl Jones's divorce proceedings public

A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that it is in the interest of the public to know the details of Montreal financial adviser Earl Jones's divorce proceedings.

Reporting bans usually mean that the names of the parties involved in divorce proceedings are protected. But Justice Eva Petras said that in the Jones case, the public interest would be best served by allowing the names to be made public.

Jones, 65, and Maxine Pamela Heayberd, his wife of more than 43 years, split up last summer after his multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme became public.

Jones, who was arrested in July 2009, pleaded guilty last Friday to two counts of fraud totalling roughly $50 million.

In October, his wife filed for divorce, citing mental cruelty that had become intolerable, according to court documents.

Neither Heayberd nor Jones, who is in jail awaiting sentencing next month, attended the hearing Tuesday.

The divorce documents reveal that Heayberd, a former employee of her husband's company, wants the court to declare her the sole owner of all the furnishings in the couple's three residences in Dorval and Mont-Tremblant, Que., and Boca Raton, Fla.

The documents identify items she wants from the kitchen of the Lakeshore Drive condo in Dorval, including silver-plated flatware, flowered water glasses, pewter glasses and heirloom wine glasses.

Heayberd also wants a pink table lamp, cedar chest, blanket stand and card table from the master bedroom, a heating plate from the guest bedroom and a counter lamp from the guest bathroom.

From the Mont Tremblant residence, Heayberd wants blue figurines, cabinets, lamps, dressers and tables. She wants a red electric broom from the storage closet and artificial flowers from the basement credenza.

The couple bought the Lakeshore Road condo for $370,000 in 1999. In 2003, they spent $334,640 for the condo in the resort town of Mont-Tremblant, north of Montreal.

Wife's claims anger victims

The trustee overseeing Jones’s bankruptcy proceedings, RSM Richter Inc., is disputing Heayberd's claims.

Jones’s victims call the claims insulting.

"How would she feel that she is entitled to the assets from any of the sale of those properties?" asked Ginny Nelles, whose family lost $1 million in savings. "That is our money that was used to purchase those properties."

Nelles said she still feels the sting of the betrayal by Jones, a longtime family friend.

"[It] is something that still keeps me awake at night," she said. "I look at my mother’s face and I look at the pain she’s going through, and it's clear you never recover from something like this."