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0Victims of the First Liberty Ponzi scheme gathered Saturday in Senoia for a meeting organized by 93-year-old Hampton victim James McMaster, whose story The Citizen previously reported as one of the earliest and most personal accounts of the scheme’s impact.
McMaster’s son Dennis, who lives and operates businesses in Coweta County, hosted the event at his facility. About half a dozen victims attended in person with another 10+ supporters, while 162 victims joined the meeting by Zoom, bringing the total victim participation to 168, underscoring the wide reach of the collapsed investment firm.
Assistant Commissioner of Securities Noula Zaharis told victims that when the case first reached the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, investigators quickly learned that Brant Frost IV had approached the Securities and Exchange Commission and blamed the collapse entirely on himself.
“When this story came to us, we worked very closely with our federal partners,” Zaharis said. “And as soon as Mr. Frost the Fourth went in to confess to the SEC, the SEC picked up with them and called us immediately and said, we have something for you.”
But Zaharis said the state never accepted the idea that the First Liberty collapse was the work of only one person.
“We decided that it wasn’t just one person, that there are many players involved in these kinds of schemes,” she said. “So that’s why we’re looking at all the people that were involved, not just the person at the top, but people who were bringing clients, investors, over and received compensation.”
That message—that the investigation is expanding rather than narrowing—was repeated throughout the afternoon.
Zaharis and Senior Enforcement Attorney Christina Herd said the case has proven far more financially complicated than a simple failed investment firm, involving layers of transactions, loans and entities that investigators are still working to untangle.
Herd said investigators are pursuing three key questions: how money flowed into First Liberty, what the company did with that money, and what borrowers did with the funds after they received loans.
“In my four years doing this, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Herd said of the disordered financial records investigators have had to reconstruct.
Zaharis said the Secretary of State’s office has supplemented its small securities team with additional help, including a forensic accountant experienced in white-collar crime and a specially appointed investigative agent to assist with the case.
Victims repeatedly pressed officials about criminal accountability. Zaharis confirmed that the Secretary of State’s office has issued three maximum $500,000 administrative fines so far—to Edwin Brant Frost V, Timothy Nathaniel Darnell and Randy Hough—and has referred all three cases for possible criminal prosecution in their local jurisdictions.
Both Zaharis and Herd told victims that many more individuals connected to the scheme are under investigation and additional fines and criminal referrals are expected as the case develops.
“All we can do is issue an order, levy a fine, bar people from the industry and refer them,” Zaharis said. “In this case … we decided that in each person that we’re going to issue an order on, we’re going to refer them to the DA and hopefully the DA then can pick it up and do what they need to do.”
Local Prosecutors Now Reviewing Referrals
In Fayette County, Acting District Attorney David Studdard confirmed Tuesday that his office has received the referral involving Fayette County Board of Education Vice Chair Randy Hough.
“Our office has received the referral from the Secretary of State’s Office regarding Mr. Hough,” Studdard said in an email to The Citizen. “We are in the process of reviewing the information.”
In Coweta County, District Attorney Herb Cranford previously confirmed his office had received the referral involving Brant Frost V and is reviewing the case.
Zaharis also said the Secretary of State’s office is communicating with federal authorities and other agencies working aspects of the case.
“We are working with various people, whether it’s with the receiver, other state agencies, and various federal people,” Zaharis said. “There are victims in other states that we know of.”
Victim Describes Encounter in First Liberty Office
The meeting also included emotional testimony from victims.
One Coweta County businessman who says he lost money in the First Liberty scheme shared a story that underscored the sales tactics some investors say they witnessed inside the company’s offices.
The man, whom The Citizen will identify as “Dave” to protect his identity, said he invested with First Liberty for about a year and a half and visited the company’s Newnan office multiple times.
During one visit, Dave said he noticed Brant Frost IV speaking with an elderly man in a side office.
“I saw Brant and Jayme Sickert cornering that guy,” Dave told the group. “He had to be about 90 years old.”
Dave said he later asked Sickert what was happening.
According to Dave, Sickert told him the conversation had nothing to do with investments.
“Jayme said Brant does outreach to elderly communities and was trying to recruit the guy to sing in a choir,” Dave said.
But after finishing his own meeting with Sickert, Dave said Frost then asked him to speak with the elderly man about what it was like to invest with First Liberty.
“He basically asked me to talk to the guy about investing,” Dave said. “That’s when I realized Jayme had lied to me about what was going on.”
Dave said the encounter still troubles him.
“I just hope that man didn’t invest,” he said.
Officials Urge Additional Victims to Come Forward
Stories like Dave’s are exactly the kind of information investigators say they still need.
State officials at the meeting urged anyone who invested with First Liberty—or who may have been approached by the company—to come forward if they have not already spoken with investigators.
Herd said the office has interviewed roughly 150 victims so far, but believes additional investors may still be unidentified.
Victims can file a complaint directly with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Securities Division using the agency’s online complaint form at
https://sos.ga.gov/form/complaint-office-secretary-state-securities-division
The division can also be reached by phone at 470-312-2640.
Saturday’s meeting also highlighted grassroots organizing among victims themselves.
Lisa Deveraux, a close friend of McMaster, helped organize victims for this event and, along with him, established a portal where investors can connect with one another, share their stories and stay informed about developments in the case. That portal is available here: https://flvs.themcmasterplan.com/
Push for Legislation to Return Fines to Victims
Officials also encouraged victims and community members to support Senate Bill 284, legislation Zaharis said would allow fines collected in securities enforcement cases to be directed back to victims rather than to the state.
Zaharis urged those attending the meeting to contact their Georgia state representatives and senators and ask them to support the bill when it returns in the next legislative session.
“If we had that authority, we could direct that money back to the victims,” Zaharis said.
For many who attended Saturday’s meeting—both in the room and among the 168 participants—the message from investigators was clear: the First Liberty investigation is still expanding, and additional enforcement actions are likely as authorities continue unraveling the financial web behind the scheme.
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