Georgia lender who funded Alabama politicians gets 15 years
Brant Frost IV, whose family and firms gave to State Auditor Andrew Sorrell and other Alabama Republicans, was sentenced for a Ponzi scheme that cost more than 300 investors $76 million.
Chief U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May ordered Edwin Brant Frost IV to serve 15 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Frost, 69, of Newnan, Georgia, founded First Liberty Building and Loan. He must also pay $76,454,374.39 in restitution after pleading guilty to wire fraud on May 12.
May imposed the sentence October 26. Frost was originally scheduled to be sentenced August 14. His lawyers asked to move the hearing to October 26, the government did not oppose the request, and May granted it.
Prosecutors said Frost pitched First Liberty to investors as a politically conservative, Christian lender. Between 2021 and July 2025, the company failed to generate enough revenue as loans defaulted, and Frost paid older investors with money from new clients. Investigators said Frost spent $570,000 in investor funds on political contributions.
Some of that money reached Alabama. According to campaign finance records first reported by the Alabama Reflector, Frost, members of his family or his businesses made at least $132,000 in contributions to Alabama politicians and political action committees. Alabama State Auditor Sorrell and his PAC, Alabama Christian Citizens, collectively received at least $71,000 from the Frost family and their investment entities. Representative Ben Harrison, R-Elkmont, received more than $21,000 from Frost in 2022, and State Board of Education member Allen Long received a $40,000 donation from First National Investments in December 2023.
Money also flowed the other way. Alabama Christian Citizens made a $29,000 loan to First Liberty Building & Loan in April 2024, according to campaign finance records. Sorrell has said that he and his PAC both lost money. He has not said how much he lost personally.
In October 2025, APR reported that Harrison, Long and Sorrell all appeared to have returned the funds. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen had urged recipients to send the contributions to the court-appointed receiver for distribution to investors.
Sorrell dropped his bid for secretary of state in January and ran for reelection instead. He will face Democrat Violet Edwards in the November 3, 2026, general election.
At sentencing, May rejected the defense's argument that Frost meant no harm, saying that "this level of delusion is not believable," the Georgia Recorder reported. The sentence was a year more than prosecutors requested and a decade more than defense attorneys sought. Federal sentencing guidelines recommended approximately 20 years.
Frost's attorney, Marc Mukasey, pointed to his client's age and repeatedly argued that a longer sentence would amount to a death sentence. Frost addressed the court and the victims directly. "I have messed up a lot of good people's lives," he said, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said Frost "wickedly exploited their faith to plunder their accounts and enrich himself."
Prosecutors said Frost diverted at least $5 million for personal use. That included a $230,000 vacation home rental, $140,000 in jewelry and $2 million in credit card payments.
Frost has 30 days to surrender. His counsel asked the court whether he could serve his time at a federal prison in Montgomery.
