DEFUNCT LOAN COMPANY PRESIDENT CHARGED

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992                   TAG: 9202290150
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: DANVILLE                                LENGTH: Short
DEFUNCT LOAN COMPANY PRESIDENT CHARGED
The head of a defunct loan company was released on $100,000 bond Friday after being arrested on 30 counts of securities fraud.
Melvin L. Jones, 62, president of the bankrupt Danville Finance & Loan Corp., was indicted Thursday by a Danville Circuit Court grand jury.
Commonwealth's Attorney William Fuller said Jones was charged with one count of working as an unlicensed security agent and 29 counts of fraud.
Fuller said Jones' next court appearance is Wednesday.
Lawyers for 29 investors, including many elderly people who sunk about $1 million into Danville Finance & Loan Corp., claim Jones ran a "Ponzi" scheme. In such an operation, the earliest investors are paid off with money from later investors.
The scheme can keep going as long as there are enough new investors. - Associated Press

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB