Illinois investment advisor charged with defrauding clients, running Ponzi scheme

An Illinois investment advisor has been indicted by a grand jury on charges that he swindled his clients in a Ponzi scheme.

The indictment against John Myers, 41, was returned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Myers operated Sterling Capital Investments LLC, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. From 2022 through 2025, Myers fraudulently obtained money from three victims, among them a husband and wife from Michigan, with false representations about the performance and value of the investments, prosecutors said.

 Myers provided false documentation inflating the value of the investments, of which he knew the value had really decreased because of his trading losses, prosecutors said.

Myers also engaged in a Ponzi scheme by using new investors' funds to repay earlier investors, prosecutors said.

Myers was charged with four counts of wire fraud. He was due in court on Friday morning for an arraignment before U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang.