
By Staff Writer
For Immediate Release
Washington D.C., July 10, 2025 —
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it filed charges seeking an asset freeze and other emergency relief against Newnan, Georgia-based First Liberty Building & Loan, LLC and its founder and owner Edwin Brant Frost IV in connection with a Ponzi scheme that defrauded approximately 300 investors of at least $140 million.
According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately 2014 through June 2025, First Liberty and Frost offered and sold to retail investors promissory notes and loan participation agreements that offered returns of up to 18% by representing that investor funds would be used to make short-term bridge loans to businesses at relatively high interest rates. The defendants allegedly told investors that very few of these loans had defaulted and that they would be repaid by borrowers via Small Business Administration or other commercial loans. The complaint also alleges that, while some investor funds were used to make bridge loans, those loans did not perform as represented, and most loans ultimately defaulted and ceased making interest payments. Since at least 2021, First Liberty operated as a Ponzi scheme by using new investor funds to make principal and interest payments to existing investors, according to the complaint. The complaint further alleges that Frost misappropriated investor funds for personal use, including by using investor funds to make over $2.4 million in credit card payments, paying more than $335,000 to a rare coin dealer, and spending $230,000 on family vacations…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (georgiarecord.com)
Home | Caravan to Midnight (zutalk.com)
Be First to Comment