Chief Judge Leigh Martin May sentenced Edwin Brant Frost IV to 15 years in the First Liberty fraud.

Monday's term is the sentence on a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud. It is not a jury verdict. The U.S. Attorney's Office, FOX 5 Atlanta, and The Citizen print the same restitution figure. The Newnan Times-Herald prints a figure that is fifty dollars lower.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia said Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, that Chief U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May sentenced Edwin Brant Frost IV, 69, of Newnan, Georgia, to 15 years in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $76,454,374.39 in restitution. The office said he was convicted of wire fraud on May 12, 2026, after he pleaded guilty. FOX 5 Atlanta, citing the office and court records, reported the same judge, the same 15 years, the same three years of supervised release, the same restitution figure, and the same May 12 plea. The office said the scheme, run through First Liberty Building and Loan, LLC, in Newnan, caused more than $76 million in losses to more than 300 victims between at least 2021 and July 2025. Monday's prison term is the sentence on that plea.

The office said Frost held First Liberty out as a politically conservative Christian lender that helped small businesses. It said he told investors their money would make short-term, high-interest bridge loans, promised monthly returns of 8 to 18 percent, and assured them that principal and interest would come back when borrowers refinanced, often with Small Business Administration loans, and that the company would earn money only from fees and interest-rate spreads. It said that by 2021 the company did not have enough legitimate income, that numerous bridge loans had defaulted, and that Frost kept telling investors their money was funding performing loans and that only a few had defaulted. It said he represented that borrowers already had SBA preapproval when few, if any, had. It said he used new investors' money to pay interest owed to earlier investors, and that he diverted at least $5 million for himself: a $230,000 vacation-home rental in Maine, more than $140,000 in jewelry, a $20,800 Patek Philippe watch, more than $335,000 paid to a rare coin dealer, more than $2 million in credit-card payments, and more than $570,000 in political contributions. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said, "Like a false prophet and ravenous wolf in sheep's clothing, Frost used religion, politics, and promises of profitable returns to lure investors into giving him their hard-earned money." The office said Assistant United States Attorney Angela Adams prosecuted the case. It said the FBI and the FDIC Office of Inspector General investigated, with substantial assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State.

The Citizen reported the Oct. 26 hearing was in the federal courthouse in downtown Newnan, that the room was full enough that some people were sent to an overflow courtroom, and that Judge May's 15 years was one year longer than the 14 years prosecutors recommended and 10 years longer than the five years Frost's lawyers requested. It reported he was given 30 days to surrender after the defense asked for 90, and that he is expected to report to federal prison in Montgomery, Alabama, on Wednesday, Nov. 25. The Newnan Times-Herald reported the same 14-year request and the same five-year request. It reported prosecutors and the defense had stipulated to a guideline range of 19 years and seven months to 20 years, which it described as the statutory maximum, and that he was charged by criminal information in April after his lawyers contacted the U.S. Attorney's Office to resolve the case before an indictment. It reported the sentence requires full financial disclosure to a probation officer. The Times-Herald printed restitution of $76,454,324.39. The U.S. Attorney's Office, FOX 5 Atlanta, and The Citizen printed $76,454,374.39. Those figures are fifty dollars apart. The Citizen reported that 95-year-old James McMaster, whom it called the oldest known victim, spoke in court and had lost about $1.3 million. It reported that people who sat through the hearing recalled the judge calling Frost "delusional" when he described an artificial-intelligence venture he said could have rescued the company. That word is their recollection. It is not a transcript.

The May 12 plea is the conviction on the wire-fraud count. The 15-year term is the sentence on that plea. The restitution order is a money judgment. The Citizen reported it does not mean investors are paid immediately. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.