First Liberty founder Brant Frost IV sentenced to 15 years in prison

Brant Frost IV, the politically connected founder of a Newnan-based lending business prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud tied to the collapse of First Liberty Building & Loan.

The sentence was delivered on Monday afternoon in a federal courthouse mere steps from First Liberty’s former offices, after more than an hour of impassioned victims recounting the devastation caused by Frost and First Liberty. U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May also ordered Frost to pay more than $76 million in restitution, and be subject to three years of supervised release upon leaving prison.

May ordered that Frost will have to surrender himself to authorities within 30 days, allowing him enough time to work with the court-appointed receiver, who continues to search for assets to recoup money for investors.

Frost was the last to speak, expressing that “it’s difficult to be here and to listen” to the victims, and understands their pain and sense of deceit.

“I have messed up a lot of good people’s lives,” Frost said.

Frost, in a courtroom divided by his family and associates and more than a dozen victims, began to cry as his attorney began his argument for leniency.

‘A lifelong scarlet letter’

First Liberty abruptly shut down in June 2025. Days later, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued the company and Frost, alleging the lender used new investor money to cover obligations to earlier investors, while promising big returns.

Federal regulators accused Frost and First Liberty of operating a $140 million Ponzi scheme that targeted conservative and faith-based investors across Georgia and beyond.

The SEC said First Liberty executives told investors that very few of these loans had defaulted and that they would be repaid by borrowers through Small Business Administration or other commercial loans.

But while some investors’ funds were used to make bridge loans, the SEC said in its complaint, most of the loans ultimately defaulted and ceased making interest payments.

Frost pleaded guilty in May to a wire fraud charge tied to the misuse of investor funds. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg had recommended 14 years, a sentence that deter other “potential fraudsters.”

“Like a false prophet and ravenous wolf in sheep’s clothing, Frost used religion, politics, and promises of profitable returns to lure investors into giving him their hard-earned money. He wickedly exploited their faith to plunder their accounts and enrich himself,” Hertzberg said in a news release.

Frost’s attorneys had asked for five years, plus restitution and supervised release. That, they argued, “would allow Brant to return home while he is still physically and intellectually capable of working in aid of restitution.”

Nine of Frost’s victims spoke during the sentencing. The eight men and one woman, ranging from their 40s to 95, spoke of feeling betrayed by Frost’s actions. Some broke into tears. Others quoted Scripture.

Frost remained mostly stone-faced, though he blinked incessantly, his tortoiseshell glasses removed from his face.

The first three speakers were Allen Baldwin, a father, and his two sons Ryan and Jordan Baldwin, each of whom spoke of trusting Frost because he described himself as a man of faith. Jordan Baldwin said his family will be financially insecure longer than Frost is incarcerated.

“You turned the Frost name into a lifelong scarlet letter,” Ryan Baldwin said.

‘Broken, chastened and humbled’

When First Liberty closed, Frost started selling generators in hopes of earning money to support his family and repay investors, the filing from his attorneys said.

Ahead of the sentencing, a flood of family members and supporters submitted more than 80 letters to the court in a bid for leniency. His brother Fred Frost and a friend of 40 years named Chris Brown both provided character statements during the Monday proceedings.

Brown said Frost “saved him” as he was struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

His attorneys, in a filing, told the judge that Frost would “appear before this Court for sentencing, a 69-year-old man, broken, chastened and humbled. He agonized for the people he hurt even before he wept his way through each and every Victim Impact Statement.”

They wrote in their sentencing memorandum to the court that Frost “is tortured every day by the pain he caused, and he is profoundly remorseful for violating the law and abusing the trust that clients, colleagues and customers placed in him. He accepts full responsibility for his conduct. Brant knows he should have done things differently.”

During the Monday proceedings, one of Frost’s attorneys, Marc Mukasey, cited two cases to convey that it is “unfathomable” that Frost should receive a longer sentence than the defendants in those cases. One was Mark Scott, an attorney who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for laundering $400 million for a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. The other: Elizabeth Holmes, who was sentenced to more than 11 years for defrauding investors in her Theranos startup. Her sentence has since been reduced to 10 years and 3 months.

Frost acknowledged under oath in May that he knowingly participated in a scheme that used money from new investors to repay earlier investors while concealing the company’s mounting financial problems.

First Liberty and the Frost family were deeply embedded in Republican politics in Georgia and across the South. The company framed its investments as part of a “patriot economy.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously identified roughly $1.4 million in political contributions tied to Frost, his relatives and affiliated businesses. Federal regulators allege at least $570,000 in investor money was used for political donations.

Hertzberg’s memo, citing victim impact statements, said one of Frost’s victims was supposed to retire in March 2026, but was unable to and “had to beg to keep my job.”

Another victim said, “I worry more about every penny I spend now. … It has also made me very distrustful of people in general.”