The Georgia Secretary of State’s office issued a new round of subpoenas this week that signal a widening probe of First Liberty Building & Loan, the failed financial firm whose politically connected founder is accused of a sprawling $140 million Ponzi scheme.
Two of the subpoenas were issued to Randy Hough, a former senior development officer with the Newnan-based lender, and Jayme Sickert, its compliance officer, according to an official familiar with the investigation who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.
A third subpoena was issued to Nathaniel Darnell, a financial adviser who also leads the Georgia Republican Assembly, an ultraconservative organization once allied with First Liberty founder Brant Frost IV and his family, the official said.
The subpoenas seek documents and correspondence tied to the company’s lending practices, the official said. A spokesman for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger declined comment on the ongoing probe, which was launched shortly after First Liberty’s June collapse sent shock waves through Georgia’s political establishment.
Sickert confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he received a subpoena Wednesday but declined further comment. Hough, who is vice chair of the Fayette County Board of Education, declined to comment. Multiple calls and messages to Darnell weren’t immediately returned.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Frost IV in a lawsuit of orchestrating a $140 million Ponzi scheme that funneled millions to enrich the family and boost conservative causes. Frost IV has publicly apologized and urged investors to work with a court-ordered receiver, a financial guardian tasked with recouping as much money as possible for investors.
The state’s widening civil probe comes weeks after the AJC reported that Raffensperger’s office had subpoenaed the founder’s son, Brant Frost V, for records tied to a new lending firm that he tried to form shortly before First Liberty’s collapse. Regulators approved the business formation days later.
Frost V is not named nor accused of wrongdoing in the SEC litigation. He has repeatedly declined to comment, though the Coweta County GOP he chairs urged members on its website to let due process “take its course regarding the situation surrounding the family business of our chairman.”
“Just as President Trump faced many legal challenges that received media attention without all the facts being brought forward,” read the statement, “we ask that the investigation be allowed to continue without speculation or prejudice.”
Frost V was a key member of the Georgia Republican Assembly, a conservative insurgency group headed by Darnell that wars with more establishment GOP officials. The family broke ties with the group in June, just before First Liberty shuttered.
He also headed the Georgia Republican Assembly PAC, a separate entity that boosted the GRA, which now faces 61 alleged violations by the state’s ethics commission accusing the group of making $220,000 in unreported expenditures.
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