More than 80 people, including family, friends, and even investors who lost money in the scheme, are asking a federal judge for mercy on Newnan businessman Edwin Brant Frost IV who is set to be sentenced for a Ponzi scheme that the SEC says defrauded about 300 investors of at least $140 million. Their names are listed below in the exhibit index from Frost’s own sentencing memorandum.
Frost, 69, pleaded guilty on May 12 to one count of wire fraud, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. The SEC says First Liberty Building & Loan, the firm he owned, operated as a Ponzi scheme since at least 2021, paying existing investors with new investors’ money. The SEC also says Frost used investor funds for more than $2.4 million in credit card payments, more than $335,000 to a rare coin dealer and $230,000 on family vacations. Prosecutors recommend 14 years in prison. His lawyers ask for five, in a sentencing memorandum filed October 19 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Case No. 3:26-cr-00008-LMM. Sentencing is set for October 26, according to local reports.
When First Liberty Building & Loan sold itself to investors, it billed its leaders as “authentic followers of Christ” with a penchant for charitable giving to religious causes, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In advertising in conservative media across Georgia and beyond the state, First Liberty promoted itself with the slogan “We say yes when the big banks say no.”
Frost’s own lawyers concede the core of his misconduct in their memorandum regarding sentence. They state that “Brant made material misrepresentations to investors and omitted certain material facts.” According to their memorandum, in the final years of the investment program, returns to investors were paid largely from newly invested funds and not from borrowers’ repayments of loans. The sentencing guidelines stipulated in his plea agreement put the loss between $65 million and $150 million and count substantial financial hardship to 25 or more victims.
Frost’s lawyers write that he is neither the swindler nor the con artist that many imagine him to be. In describing Brant, the letter writers are unanimous in describing him as a gentle, kind, and loving soul, they say. Moreover, they say, the investment program that Brant oversaw was not a sham or a con.
These letters were written by Frost’s family members and friends, business associates, and ministers and other Christian leaders from several different churches. They include a letter from Paul C. Broun, M.D., who wrote that he has known Frost since the 1980s. Other writers include Chad Connelly of Faith Wins; Carroll Conley, retired executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine; Pete Mullins, who signs as Pastor Emeritus of Coweta Community Church; Tim Tidwell, who signs as pastor of Oakside Baptist Church in LaGrange; and David Theiss, who signs as mayor. Writing to a judge before sentencing is lawful and routine, and the names are part of the public court record.
