The U.S. government is accusing an investment firm and its CEO of running a Ponzi scheme to dupe thousands of would-be real estate investors out of more than $300M.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a temporary injunction Wednesday to freeze the assets and operations of Atlanta-based Drive Planning and its leader, Todd Burkhalter, for an alleged scheme that affected 2,000 investors.
Burkhalter’s purported scam, which ran from 2020 through this year, promised investors in a land development plan that they would get 10% interest returns every three months, according to the SEC’s complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Drive Planning allegedly asked investors to drain their savings, retirement and other accounts to invest in the land plan. But instead of using their money to fund development, Burkhalter lined his own pockets, purchasing a $3.1M yacht, $4.6M in private jet travel and a $2M luxury condo, among other personal expenditures, the SEC claimed.
Burkhalter used new investor money to pay current investors to keep the scheme going, the complaint says.
“Drive Planning and Burkhalter gained the trust of everyday people and encouraged them to invest in this scheme by promising exorbitant returns, but as our complaint alleges, the defendants’ business was nothing more than a classic Ponzi scheme, using new investor money to pay returns to existing investors, with Burkhalter stealing millions to fund a lavish lifestyle,” Nekia Hackworth Jones, the director of the SEC’s Atlanta regional office, said in the statement.
Hackworth Jones warned investors to be vigilant for others promising outsized returns.
The agency said it is also taking action against related entities and Burkhalter’s wife, Jacqueline Burkhalter, to claw back any ill-gotten gains from the scheme. It will seek permanent injunctions, disgorgement of illegally solicited money with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.
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