Georgia Businessman Edwin Frost Sentenced to 15 Years for $76 Million Ponzi Scheme That Victimized More Than 300 Investors
NEWNAN, Georgia — Edwin Brant Frost IV, 69, of Newnan, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for operating a Ponzi scheme that victimized more than 300 investors and caused losses of more than $76 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced. He was ordered to pay restitution of $76,454,374.39.
According to the Justice Department, from at least 2021 through July 2025 Frost orchestrated the fraud through his Newnan-based company, First Liberty Building and Loan, LLC. He held the company out as a politically conservative, Christian lender helping small businesses, telling investors their funds would make short-term, high-interest bridge loans to small businesses and promising returns of 8 to 18 percent paid monthly, with principal and interest to be repaid through borrowers' eventual refinancing, often through SBA-backed loans.
By 2021, however, First Liberty was not generating enough revenue: numerous bridge loans had defaulted and the company lacked sufficient legitimate income to pay investors. Instead of disclosing the shortfalls, Frost falsely claimed that 100 percent of investor money funded bridge loans, that the loans were performing and that borrowers had received SBA preapproval, while using new investor funds to pay interest owed to existing investors.
Frost diverted at least $5 million for personal benefit, including a $230,000 vacation home rental in Maine, more than $140,000 in jewelry, a $20,800 Patek Philippe watch, more than $335,000 to a rare coin dealer, more than $2 million in credit card payments and more than $570,000 in political contributions. Chief U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May imposed the sentence; Frost had pleaded guilty to wire fraud on May 12, 2026. The FBI and the FDIC Office of Inspector General investigated the case, with assistance from the SEC and the Georgia Secretary of State.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于佐治亚州 Atlanta 的 Richard B. Russell 联邦大楼与联邦法院（CC BY 3.0）— via Wikimedia Commons
