Georgia Advisor Gets 20 Years For $388 Million Ponzi Scheme
A financial planner in Georgia was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole for operating what was probably the largest Ponzi scheme in Georgia history, according to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Todd Burkhalter, 55, a resident of St. Petersburg, Fla., and founder and CEO of the Georgia-based financial advisory group Drive Planning, was sentenced to the maximum allowed prison term for running a Ponzi operation and other fraudulent schemes that cheated more than 2,000 people out of about $388 million over nearly four years, authorities said. He was ordered to repay investors $233,777,763.
Burkhalter continued his fraudulent activities even after he came under investigation by the FBI, the Georgia U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He spent the money on extravagant purchases, including a $2 million yacht and luxury cars, prosecutors said. Through the scheme, he and his partners convinced investors to drain their children’s college accounts and their own retirement accounts and to take out high-interest loans.
Two other top executives of Drive Planning, David Bradford of Peachtree Corners, Ga., and Julie Edwards of Cumming, Ga., were sentenced to federal prison earlier for their roles in the scheme.
“Todd Burkhalter lured investors to send millions of dollars to Drive Planning for investments that he knew didn’t actually exist,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement. “He promised investors that they were guaranteed substantial returns.”
He guaranteed investors returns of 10% every three months and 22% per year for three years.
“Between September 2020 and June 2024, Drive Planning, at Burkhalter’s direction, marketed several investment real estate investment opportunities known as REAL and the CORE Fund,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “Drive Planning claimed that investing in REAL and the CORE Fund was easy and simple, telling prospective investors that they did not have to be accredited investors to participate.”
REAL was Drive Planning’s primary investment vehicle, which Burkhalter fraudulently marketed as a bridge loan opportunity. “Drive Planning claimed that it offered short-term loans or bridge loans, to real estate developers who needed immediate cash flow to complete existing projects or fund new ones. Burkhalter and Drive Planning deceived investors into believing their investments were safe by claiming they were fully collateralized by real estate,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
Burkhalter directed Drive Planning to prepare fraudulent “collateral sheets” that named properties, including some that did not exist, and phony valuations.
The CORE Fund was advertised as returning 10% every six months or 22% per year for up to three years, prosecutors said.
“Drive Planning further misrepresented that investors’ contributions to the CORE Fund were pooled together, government-protected, and fully collateralized,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “Additionally, Burkhalter and others at Drive Planning failed to disclose that Drive Planning did not invest any funds in the CORE Fund after December 2022.”
Throughout the scheme, investors’ monies were used to pay off other Drive Planning investors, make commission payments to Drive Planning’s agents, and pay for personal expenditures, authorities said.
