Alabama officials have returned at least $58,800 of contributions stemming from an alleged Georgia-based Ponzi scheme, according to campaign finance records.
Edwin Brant Frost IV, members of his family or his businesses made at least $132,000 in contributions to Alabama politicians and political action committees (PACs), including then-Rep. Andrew Sorrell, R-Muscle Shoals, now the Alabama state auditor and current candidate for Secretary of State; Rep. Ben Harrison, R-Elkmont, and Alabama State Board of Education member Allen Long.
Sorrell, who received at least $55,000 from either Frost or his business entities, returned $25,000 to the court-appointed receiver in the lawsuit, S. Gregory Hays, on July 18. Alabama Christian Citizens, Sorrell’s PAC, also returned a $12,500 contribution on the same day.
“My campaign got $25,000 contribution in May and I returned $25,000,” Sorrell wrote in a text on Tuesday. “Alabama Christian citizens PAC got $12,500 contribution last year and I returned $12,500.”
Sorrell’s campaigns began receiving contributions in 2021, with individual contributions from Frost and his son, Brant Frost V. According to campaign finance records, both Frosts made personal donations to Sorrell’s auditor campaign totaling $7,500 in July 2021. Brant Frost V made an additional contribution of $2,500 to Sorrell’s campaign the following March.
First Liberty Capital gave Sorrell’s auditor campaign $10,000 on Dec. 13, 2021, according to campaign finance reports. In May 2022, Sorrell received $10,000 from First National Investments, another one of the Frost’s investment entities.
“The account you are inquiring about was closed in February with a zero balance and no transfer of funds,” Sorrell said in a text message late Tuesday night when asked about the remaining $30,000 in contributions.
Harrison on July 28 returned $21,300 in contributions he received in 2022 on July 28.
Long, who received the largest one-time donation of $40,000, wrote in a text message Tuesday evening he has “refunded every remaining dollar in (his) campaign account to the court appointed receiver to (e)nsure that the victims are able to recoup as much their investment as possible.” The State Board of Education member is not up for re-election in 2026 and is not required to file a campaign finance report until January.
A lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia alleged that Frost and his associated investment firms raised at least $140 million between 2014 and 2025 through fraudulent means.
Frost is accused of misappropriating over $5 million of investor funds for himself and his family members. The SEC said Frost used $570,000 from the allegedly misappropriated money for political donations. According to the lawsuit, Frost and First Liberty Building & Loan told investors that their funds would be used to provide “Bridge Loans” to small businesses seeking long-term SBA loans. These investments offered annual returns ranging from 8% to 18%. The SEC alleges that Frost and his entities did not use investor funds as represented, and most of the Bridge Loans ultimately defaulted.
The SEC alleges First Liberty operated as a Ponzi scheme as early as 2021, at about the time when donations to Alabama politicians began, using funds from new investors to make interest payments to existing investors.
The complaint states that “most, if not all, of the funds raised through the publicly advertised offering were either misappropriated or used to make Ponzi-style payments to existing investors.”
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen in July urged officials to return contributions tied to Frost and his business entities, saying that he takes “allegations of financial fraud seriously.” The Alabama Secretary of State’s Office oversees campaign finance reporting but does not have the power to investigate or prosecute alleged violations of the law or compel the return of contributions. Later that month, Amanda Senn, director of the Alabama Securities Commission, said she opened an inquiry into the alleged scheme and is monitoring the investigation in Georgia.
This article originally appeared in the Alabama Reflector, an independent, nonprofit news outlet and part of the States Newsroom network. It appears on FOX54.com under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
