TORRANCE : President of Bankrupt Investment Firm Jailed

The president of a bankrupt Torrance investment firm under federal and state investigation was jailed Tuesday for failing to repay $55,000 to one of his former investors.

Morris D. English Jr., 51, is the president of the Wellington Group, which is being investigated for alleged securities fraud. Investigators say it may owe up to $50 million to as many as 1,500 investors statewide.

English last year pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of writing a bad check in return for probation. To avoid a year in County Jail, he promised to repay $80,000 to one investor and $1,254 to another. One count of grand theft and six additional counts of writing bad checks were dismissed.

English paid $25,000 to the first investor and $1,254 to the second, promising to turn over the remaining $55,000 by July 17, prosecutors said. That payment was not made and English was arrested, they said.