Founder to Return $7.5 Million to ESM

MIAMI --Ronnie R. Ewton, the “E” of ESM Government Securities, has agreed to give up assets of at least $7.5 million--his net worth--to help settle the $315-million debt left by the bankrupt company, a court-appointed trustee said.

“He keeps nothing of his own,” said Trustee Thomas Tew, the receiver who drew up the settlement and filed it Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami.

When ESM collapsed last March, it had about $23.8 million in assets but owed dozens of customers--including private investors, financial institutions and city governments--an estimated $315 million. Ewton’s assets will be liquidated as one step toward returning money to creditors.

Ewton, 42, who along with Robert Seneca and George Meade founded ESM in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., nine years ago with $75,000, is the first officer to settle with the receiver. All of their assets have been frozen.

Tew earlier had accused Ewton and other ESM officers of milking the company by taking out loans over the years.