ATLANTA, Georgia — Conservative legislators in Maine. Christian political groups in Alabama. An anti-abortion “abolitionist” in Idaho.
These are a few of the causes and candidates the Frost family championed outside Georgia in recent years using money that may have been bilked from First Liberty Building & Loan investors, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis shows.
Though the Frosts showered their home state of Georgia with some $755,000 in political contributions, the AJC analysis shows the family also spent more than $666,000 to influence elections elsewhere.
The vast majority of those contributions have come since 2021, when federal authorities say First Liberty became a $140 million Ponzi scheme.
A Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit says owner Brant Frost IV spent millions of dollars of investors’ money for personal use — including more than $570,000 in campaign contributions.
At least one sizable contribution was recorded just days after federal authorities interviewed Frost IV.
Frost and his attorney have declined to discuss the campaign contributions. But Frost has said he takes “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.”
Campaign contributions helped fuel the Frosts’ growing political influence in Georgia politics, where they sought to pull the state Republican Party further to the right. And though it’s not clear which contributions were paid with tainted money, the accusations against Frost have left Georgia politicians scrambling to return contributions to help make investors whole and avoid political blowback.
That scramble has spread to other states as politicians learn they have become associated with a growing scandal — one that touches elections from California to Florida and most states in between.
Alabama fallout
Aside from Georgia, the First Liberty scandal has touched no state more than Alabama. The AJC’s analysis shows the Frost family and their companies contributed nearly $168,000 to political candidates and causes there.
The top recipient was Justin Andrew Sorrell, the state auditor and candidate for Alabama secretary of state next year. The Muscle Shoals Republican received $55,000 in Frost campaign money.
The Frosts also gave $12,500 each to two political committees Sorrell runs: Alabama Christian Citizens and U.S. Christian Citizens. That brings Sorrell’s total haul of Frost campaign cash to $80,000.
Sorrell’s financial ties to the Frosts also include a $29,000 loan from Alabama Christian Citizens to First Liberty. Sorrell’s committee received interest payments on the loan through June, when the company closed.
Before he made the loan, Sorrell asked the Alabama Ethics Commission whether it would be permissible under state campaign finance laws. The commission said it would be legal, according to the news site AL.com.
Sorrell is a self-described Christian conservative whose political committees supported like-minded candidates. A former state representative, he was ranked one of the most conservative members of the Alabama Legislature.
The Frosts have supported his campaigns since 2021. They contributed $25,000 to Sorrell on May 23 of this year — eight days after federal authorities interviewed Brant Frost IV as part of their investigation.
In a recent statement to the AJC, Sorrell said he is “among the hundreds of people who lost money” in the alleged Ponzi scheme.
“The company had marketed itself through conservative channels as a ‘patriotic’ and ‘Christian’ investment opportunity,” Sorrell said. “It’s an unfortunate situation that happens frequently across the U.S., and all of us who trusted the marketing and lost our investments have learned a tough lesson.”
Sorrell said he has returned his Frost contributions to the receiver overseeing First Liberty.
“It’s important that all recovered money goes back to the investors so everyone can be made whole rather than to the individual who defrauded us,” he said.
Sorrell wasn’t the only Alabama beneficiary of Frost campaign cash. Among the others were Alabama State Board of Education member Allen Long ($40,500) and state Rep. Benjamin Harrison ($22,800).
Long said he has “refunded every remaining dollar in my campaign account to the court appointed receiver to ensure that the victims are able to recoup as much of their investment as possible.” Long’s most recent campaign report shows he had about $3,145 on hand.
Harrison has told Alabama media he intends to return his contributions.
A conservative push in Maine
The Frost family has deep roots in Maine. Brant Frost IV’s parents grew up there. And the family vacationed there — the SEC lawsuit says Frost spent more than $230,000 of investor money to rent a vacation home in Kennebunkport from 2019 to 2024.
Alex Titcomb said he met the Frosts in 2022 through mutual friends. He leads a political committee called Dinner Table Action, which focuses on electing conservatives to public office in Maine.
Brant Frost V — the First Liberty founder’s son — contributed $480 to his cause. A meeting with Frost IV helped secure an additional $50,000 to support conservative legislative candidates in that fall’s election, Titcomb said.
Dinner Table Action wasn’t the only Maine recipient of Frost family campaign cash. They contributed nearly $139,000 to candidates and causes in the state from 2020-24, the AJC analysis found.
The top recipient was the Maine Republican Party ($60,000), which did not respond to requests for comment. The Frosts also contributed to individual candidates for various offices.
Titcomb recently learned about the First Liberty scandal. He said Dinner Table Action will return contributions if required by law.
But it wouldn’t be easy.
“The money was contributed and spent in 2022, so the money is long gone,” Titcomb said. “We do not have the money currently to pay that back if we wanted to or are legally required to.”
From coast to coast
The Frost family and their companies also made significant contributions to conservative candidates and committees in Florida ($68,000), West Virginia ($34,700) and other states. In all, they contributed to political causes in at least 38 states.
In Kansas, Attorney General Kris Kobach received nearly $28,000 from the Frosts. In West Virginia, Gov. Patrick Morrisey received nearly $34,000. In Florida, the Empower Parents political committee received $25,000. None of them responded to requests for comment on whether they would return the money.
The AJC analysis found the Frosts didn’t limit their contributions to big names or big money. In Idaho, they contributed about $3,500 over three years to Scott Herndon, who successfully challenged a Republican incumbent state senator in 2022.
Herndon is a self-described anti-abortion “abolitionist” who introduced legislation to eliminate exceptions for rape and incest from Idaho’s abortion ban. The legislation failed.
Herndon lost his seat last year in a rematch with the former incumbent. Herndon did not respond to requests for comment on his Frost contributions.
Candidates who accepted Frost contributions may not be able to remain silent. Pressure is growing for them to return the money.
Last week, the Alabama Securities Commission opened an inquiry into First Liberty Building & Loan, and Secretary of State Wes Allen called for the return of political contributions to the court-appointed receiver.
“I take allegations of financial fraud seriously, especially when that fraud bleeds into campaign finance,” Allen said. “I encourage any Alabamians who have been involved to cooperate fully with law enforcement, including the SEC and our Alabama Securities Commission to ensure that the victims who have been misled may be made whole.”
Story by David Wickert and Charles Minshew, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
