Believe it or not, there are a number of things I don’t do well. I could never hit a curveball (or a fastball, for that matter). Still can’t. I have a hard time remembering names and dates.
I’m not good at chess and have no clue as to how to play bridge. I can’t dance, and I can’t play a musical instrument. And, though I haven’t given it much effort, I know I would make a lousy crook.
There are two reasons for this. One, my father was one of the most principled people to walk this earth. He was an integrity personified. Right and wrong were black and white to him. Right was right and wrong was wrong, and no amount of rationalizing could convince him otherwise. That included driving 35 mph on an otherwise empty road. That was the law, he would remind his exasperated son. Break that law, and what others would you be tempted to break? Looking back, he made a good point.
The other reason I would not excel as a crook, beyond dishonoring my father’s memory, is the real possibility of getting caught and going to jail. I have never been in jail, but I don’t think I would like it. Jails are generally populated by criminals, and I think most criminals are generally unpleasant people.
The risk/reward ratio doesn’t appeal to me.
What fascinates me are the people willing to run that risk. And that brings me to First Liberty Building and Loan in Newnan. Or more precisely, it was located in Newnan because officially, it is no more. The company has been shut down. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, First Liberty was running a $140 million Ponzi scheme, using money from newer investors to pay earlier investors rather than from legitimate profits.
The SEC filed suit against First Liberty and its founder, Brant Frost IV, alleging the firm attracted approximately 300 investors with promises of high returns through short-term bridge loans. The company charged high rates of interest on some loans and promised investors equally high rates of return, up to 18 percent.
In reality, SEC regulators say that most First Liberty loans defaulted, and the company was using incoming investor money to pay earlier investors. Hence, a Ponzi scheme.
It seems Brant IV, a prominent Georgia Republican mover and shaker, considers investor funds his private piggy bank. Between 2019 and 2024, the SEC alleges that he made over $570,000 in political donations, $335,000 to a rare coin dealer, $230,000 for vacations, and $2.4 million to cover credit card payments. Additionally, he purchased jewelry, including a Patek Philippe watch valued at $21,000.
I don’t know about Brant IV’s daddy, who I assume was Brant Frost III, but my daddy would have said a men’s Timex Easy Reader will tell time just as well and costs only $29.60.
Brant IV is now full of regret. “I take full responsibility for my actions and am resolved to spend the rest of my life trying to repay as much as I can to the many people I misled and let down. I will be cooperating with the receiver and federal authorities.”
He should. What he did was not only shameful, but also stupid.
If I ever decide to give cheating a fling, it won’t involve the federal government. The odds are heavily stacked in their favor. Sooner or later, they are going to catch you, as Mr. Frost found out.
Did he ever think they wouldn’t?
As for the “Christians” and “patriots” to whom First Liberty’s efforts were targeted, they evidently were too trusting. Maybe gullible is a better term. Or greedy.
“The promise of a high rate of return on an investment is a red flag that should make all potential investors think twice or maybe even three times before investing their money,” said Justin C. Jeffries, associate director of enforcement in the SEC’s Atlanta Regional Office.
Now comes news that just days after Brant IV’s firm was shuttered, his son, Brant Frost V, filed paperwork with state regulators to create a new lending firm, Heartland Capital, which will incorporate as a mortgage and non-mortgage loan broker. Give the kid points for chutzpah.
I don’t know what life lessons, if any, Brant V learned from Brant IV, but what I learned from my dad is that right is right and wrong is wrong and there is no in-between. He would have no sympathy for anyone involved in the First Liberty Building and Loan fiasco. Neither do I.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA 31139.