English Freed After Repaying Part of Debt to Investor : Courts: The president of the defunct Torrance firm still owes his former client $15,000. Others who lost money fear that English might leave the country.

The president of a defunct Torrance investment firm was released from jail Thursday after he turned over more than $40,000 that he was under court order to repay to a former investor.

An attorney for Morris English Jr., president of the now-bankrupt Wellington Group, released a cashier’s check to investor Elvin Field late Thursday afternoon, Field said. A probation violation hearing that was to be held Monday has now been put off until Oct. 29 to allow English time to repay $15,000 still owed to Field, Torrance City Prosecutor Jesse Rodriguez said.

Neither English nor his attorney could be reached for comment Thursday evening.

For the past two years, English, 51, has been under investigation by the state Department of Corporations, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI for alleged securities fraud. Investigators believe his company may owe up to $50 million to as many as 1,500 investors statewide.

Although no state or federal charges have been filed, Rodriguez charged English last year with one count of grand theft and seven misdemeanor counts of intentionally writing bad checks.

English was placed on probation on April 17, 1991, after he pleaded no contest to one of the misdemeanor counts and promised to repay Field $80,000 that Field had invested in what investigators now believe were fraudulent trust deeds through the Wellington Group.

English made an initial $25,000 payment last year and was given until July 17, to pay Field the remaining $55,000. He failed to make any further payments and was arrested and jailed for the first time July 20.

South Bay Municipal Judge Thomas P. Allen Jr. ordered English held in lieu of $150,000 bail, rejecting English’s request to be released on his own recognizance.

Earlier, South Bay Municipal Judge Josh Fredricks had said he would order English to jail for a year if he failed to repay Field on time.

English said the $40,000 turned over on Thursday came from one of his mother’s retirement accounts, prosecutor Rodriguez said.

“My job is not just to put people in jail, but to make sure that justice is done,” Rodriguez said. “If the victim is paid back every penny, then that is justice.”

Field, 65, said the money represents a significant portion of his retirement savings.

“I’m very happy right now,” he said. “This is money we never thought we’d see again. . . . It took us a long time to save that $80,000 and now because of this wonderful man, Jesse Rodriguez, putting in all this time and energy and doing what four federal and state agencies can’t seem to do, we’re some of the only victims of Morris English who got money back.”

Other Wellington investors, who have formed a tight-knit lobbying group to track the criminal investigations and the company’s tangled bankruptcy, were not so pleased.

As many as 100 investors had been expected to appear in court Monday to urge that English be jailed for as long as possible.

A hot line set up by the Wellington Investors Network carried a bitter, taped message Thursday evening that sharply criticized Field’s decision to accept partial payment.

“It should have been all or nothing,” the group’s unidentified spokesman said on the tape. “It will be very surprising if English does not flee the country now. . . . Justice in America seems elusive, doesn’t it?”