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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.
Listed in the order they appear in the exhibit index of the sentencing memorandum filed October 19 (Doc. 20-1, Exhibit A). Joint letters from two people are listed as one entry in the filing.
Some of the writers say they lost their own money in Frost’s Ponzi scheme and still ask for leniency. “Like other investors, we lost money when Brant IV’s business collapsed,” wrote Kelly and Charlene Levering in their letter to the judge. They added that they “do not believe Brant acted with malice or ill-intent.” Katie Frost wrote, “I invested the majority of my savings with First Liberty and now find myself trying to rebuild financially.”
The letters are the defense’s account of Frost. The Georgia Record has not attempted to verify any of the statements from the writers. The memo refers to victim impact statements, but those statements are not part of this filing. The full sentencing memo with all of the letters in Exhibit A can be viewed below. Chief Judge Leigh Martin May will decide Frost’s sentence.
United States v. Edwin Brant Frost IV, Case No. 3:26-cr-00008-LMM (N.D. Ga., Newnan Division), Document 20 and Document 20-1, filed October 19, 2026. The filing is split into parts for display.
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[…] Originally published at The Georgia Record. […]