Mr. Ezzedine, 49, remains a mysterious figure. He was best known as the owner of Dar el-Hadi, a publishing house that specialized in religious titles and is based in the heart of Dahieh, Beirut’s Shiite southern suburb. More recently, in 2007, he founded Al Mustathmir, a financial institution based in Beirut that focused on money management. He was known as a deeply religious and charitable man, with a gift for winning people’s friendship.

Image An investor in Toura, Lebanon, said that at least 500 families in the small village lost much of their life savings in the pyramid scheme. Credit... Bryan Denton for The New York Times

It is still not clear what happened to the money, according to a judicial official with knowledge of the case who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorized to comment publicly. Mr. Ezzedine, who is now in jail awaiting trial, invested in metals, oil and other commodities in Africa and the Middle East, according to several people who knew him.

“Gold, steel, iron,” said the investor, who regularly bundled smaller contributions from dozens or even hundreds of villagers and then presented packages  anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000  as a single investment to Mr. Ezzedine’s assistants. “Every time, I’d give them the money in a bag, and they’d give me a check for the same amount.”

He leaned forward and showed his cellphone, with a photograph on the screen of rows and rows of stacked $100 bills.

As he reeled off the project titles  zircon, titanium, African oil  the investor began to shake with melancholy laughter. Two friends sitting across from him in his threadbare store  who also lost money with Mr. Ezzedine  laughed with him. The laughs grew louder and louder, and soon all three men were collapsing into wild, helpless bouts of hilarity, tears forming in the corners of their eyes.

“On the day we first heard, we met in the mosque, and we were laughing hysterically for 24 hours,” the investor said.

He soon grew sober again.

“I’m telling you this like it’s just a story,” he said. “But for us, it’s really hard. We are expecting family problems, social problems. Brothers who borrowed money from in-laws and lost it. I have a building I mortgaged.”