Tr?id=566623520170033&ev=PageView&noscript=1

Former Advisor Receives Nearly 22 Years in Prison Over Fake-Annuity Scheme

Posted on August 23rd, 2022 at 2:37 PM
Former Advisor Receives Nearly 22 Years in Prison Over Fake-Annuity Scheme

From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law.

A former Ohio-based advisor has received a 22-year prison sentence after being convicted of misappropriating at least $9.3 million from clients.

The former advisor, Raymond Erker, was sentenced to 262 months in prison for his role in operating an annuities-related Ponzi scheme. According to prosecutors, Erker misappropriated $9.37 million from nearly 54 clients between January 2013 and July 2018. Erker sold purported investments to clients, which he misrepresented as annuities and senior secured notes with no risk of loss and a guaranteed rate of return. However, Erker improperly siphoned the funds to alternative entities under his control as well as to personal bank accounts.

Erker additionally failed to inform his clients that he possessed ownership interests in the entities receiving income from the purported investments. Furthermore, Erker made Ponzi-style payments to earlier investors, which he categorized as rates of return and interest, according to prosecutors. Erker “misled, cheated and conned over fifty victims, many of them elderly, into trusting him with their life savings and hard-earned retirement funds, all for guaranteed rates of return and low-risk investments that were fabricated”, according to Ohio First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle M. Baeppler. According to BrokerCheck, Erker has not been registered as an advisor since his time at SageGuard Financial concluded in 2019.

Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, regulatory and disciplinary matters.

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law, advisors, law

Return to Archive

TESTIMONIALS

Previous
Next
Quotes Bigger

If you find yourself in trouble with the regulators, call Eccleston Law, you won't regret it.

Rick R.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

1790960250 Law
October 2, 2026
FINRA Arbitrators Award Schwab Client $1.34 Million in Cryptocurrency Scam Dispute

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Dispute Resolution Services arbitration panel awarded nearly $1.34 million in compensatory damages to a Charles Schwab & Co.

1790867615 Law
October 1, 2026
Prosecutors Target Multimillion-Dollar Investment Schemes Involving Promissory Notes

Federal prosecutors recently pursued two investment fraud cases involving promissory notes that caused combined investor losses exceeding $25 million.

1790789328 Law
September 30, 2026
SEC Approves FINRA Overhaul of Outside Business Activity Rules

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved FINRA's long-awaited overhaul of the rules governing outside business activities and private securities transactions by financial advisors.