COLUMBUS (WJW) — Victims of a former Westlake investment adviser’s $9.3 million dollar Ponzi scheme are now eligible to get some of their money back.
Wednesday, The Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Securities announced the official launch of the Investor Recovery Fund.
The fund was created through a bill Gov. Mike DeWine signed in 2021. Since then, state leaders have spent time creating an online claims portal and solidifying the application process.
Through the fund, eligible financial crime victims can recover up to 25% of their monetary loss, with a maximum cap of $25,000.
In August, Raymond Erker, a former investment adviser who worked in Westlake, was handed a 22-year prison sentence for stealing from at least 54 investors.
Evidence showed Erker sold investments to clients that he misrepresented as annuities and senior secured notes that were without risk and had guaranteed rates of return.
Erker and codefendants Kevin Krantz and Tara M. Brunst, both of Olmsted Falls, diverted funds to “other entities that they controlled” and their personal bank accounts, according to a news release from Acting U.S. Attorney Michelle M. Baeppler in Ohio’s Northern District federal court.
During Wednesday’s announcement in Columbus, Ohio Securities…
