Ponzi Scheme Investigation: Westlake Advisor Convicted

WESTLAKE, OH — A jury returned guilty verdicts against a Westlake investment firm advisor accused of stealing money from investors this week.

Raymon A. Erker, 50, from Avon, was convicted of stealing more than $9.3 million from his clients via a Ponzi scheme, the Department of Justice announced. Two other people — Kevin Krantz, 56, and Tara Brunst, 47, both from Olmsted Falls — pleaded guilty to their role in the scheme and are now awaiting sentencing.

Between January 2013 and July 2018, Erker, Krantz and Brunst worked a scheme to steal money from 54 investors. Erker sold investments to clients, which he misrepresented as annuities and senior secured notes, and said there was no risk of loss, court documents said. He was actually using money gained from new investors to pay old investors, a move the Department of Justice described as the "defining characteristic of a Ponzi scheme."

Erker and the others diverted funds to other entities they controlled, and sent money to their personal bank accounts, according to court documents.

When speaking with investors, Erker failed to disclose that he had substantial or limited ownership interests in companies that were benefiting from his scheme, court documents noted. To keep the illusion of their promises, Erker and the others set up office fronts in Delaware and Nevada,contracted with call centers and made fake websites and account statements that purported to show investor account balances, the Department of Justice said.

In October 2019, while under oath in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Erker said he told investors that he owned the companies and investors chose to give him money anyways, a statement he knew was a lie, court documents said. Erker was later convicted of making a false statement while under oath.

The investigation into Erker and his scheme was led by the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Securities, the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Westlake Police Department.