That's the kind of stuff that worries me about financial elites. There was a case in Boston, a financial planner absconding with the loot.
At least a big mutual fund company, or those of long duration, have reputation to rely on. Publicly traded they have the SEC looking over their shoulders. They all try to create an aura of invincibility, legacy wealth, heritage, financial ballast in bad times. They're all just holding companies, on paper, your money, stocks and advisors. Rigorous oversight keeps 'em honest. Amazed they caught these clowns. They ticked off all the boxes of good, clean, Christian, conservative living.
https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025-98-sec-charges-georgia-based-first-liberty-building-loan-its-owner-operating-140-million-ponzi-schemeThat's the kind of stuff that worries me about financial elites. There was that
"According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately 2014 through June 2025, First Liberty and Frost offered and sold to retail investors promissory notes and loan participation agreements that offered returns of up to 18% by representing that investor funds would be used to make short-term bridge loans to businesses at relatively high interest rates. The defendants allegedly told investors that very few of these loans had defaulted and that they would be repaid by borrowers via Small Business Administration or other commercial loans. The complaint also alleges that, while some investor funds were used to make bridge loans, those loans did not perform as represented, and most loans ultimately defaulted and ceased making interest payments. Since at least 2021, First Liberty operated as a Ponzi scheme by using new investor funds to make principal and interest payments to existing investors, according to the complaint. The complaint further alleges that Frost misappropriated investor funds for personal use, including by using investor funds to make over $2.4 million in credit card payments, paying more than $335,000 to a rare coin dealer, and spending $230,000 on family vacations."
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