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 sentencing 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.

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.

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

U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg had recommended 14 years, writing in a sentencing document that it “would appropriately reflect the pervasiveness of Frost’s Ponzi scheme, which caused over $76 million in loss to over 300 victims” and deter other “potential fraudsters.”

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.”

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 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 May hearing, Frost acknowledged under oath 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.

First Liberty abruptly shut down operations 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.

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.”

And one victim who was dependent on the interest payments from First Liberty had to return to work. “I am 77 years old, so it’s been a stretch for me,” the filing said.

Federal officials have alleged Frost diverted millions of dollars for personal expenses, including luxury purchases, political donations, credit card bills and vacation-home expenses.

First Liberty was not a federally insured bank. Instead, the company sold investment products known as “First Liberty Notes,” which promised annual returns as high as 13% and were marketed primarily to accredited investors.

These were touted as ways for investors to buy pieces of short-term and bridge loans offered to First Liberty’s business borrowers, and they offered high interest rates in return.

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.