Donald Trump supporters
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports a Republican-aligned financial services firm agreed Wednesday to repay $6.7 million to more than 40 investors who lost money in the collapse of politically connected First Liberty Building & Loan.
The payoff is tied to a widening investigation into a conservative group that created a massive Ponzi scheme primarily afflicting Republican donors. First Liberty Building & Loan’s restitution agreement is merely one facet of the “$140 million … scheme that defrauded some 300 investors overall,” reports AJC. “A recent court filing now contends First Liberty raised about $156 million from investors.”
First Liberty once courted conservative-leaning investors and touted its ability to “say yes to borrowers when the big banks said no,” but it shut down last June and took investors’ money with it. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission soon stepped in, filing a lawsuit accusing the company of operating an investment scheme. State agency probes soon followed.
The Wednesday settlement agreement comes weeks after Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s hit former Bankers Life adviser Nathaniel Darnell with a $500,000 fine and referred his case to local prosecutors for possible criminal charges over allegations that he deceived First Liberty investors, the AJC reports.
Retired electrical worker Thomas Todd invested $750,000 with First Liberty, and was even preparing to write another six-figure check when the company imploded.
“I pray for them every day — every morning. They need those prayers. But they also need to pay for what they did,” Todd told AJC, while adding that his donations would have been better spent going to churches and other religious charities.
“They didn’t steal from me,” said Todd. “They stole God’s money.”
AJC reports the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in July accused Frost IV in a lawsuit of orchestrating the scheme, funneling millions to the family to boost conservative causes. Federal authorities froze First Liberty’s assets, and Frost publicly apologized.
Georgia Republicans are loathe to denounce the Ponzi scheme connected to Republican financier and First Liberty founder Brant Frost IV — or to even address the topic. But Raffensperger is open about his willingness to investigate Republicans behind the scheme, and he appears to be slipping into an anti-corruption role in the state’s primary for Republican governor.