AMITE, La. — A Louisiana businessman was arrested today on charges he engaged in a Ponzi scheme that cost at least 200 investors more than $11 million, money he allegedly used to finance a lavish lifestyle.

William J. Chaucer Jr., 60, of Ponchatoula, used money invested in his loan companies to pay for more than $400,000 in Mardi Gras expenses, $5,500 worth of plastic surgery and thousands more for his wife to compete in pageants, authorities said.