$300M Ponzi Scheme Prompts Freezing Of Assets For ATL Businessman: SEC

ATLANTA, GA — A metro Atlanta businessman is being accused of participating in a $300 million real estate Ponzi scheme to fund a "lavish lifestyle" for four years, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.

The SEC accused Russell Todd Burkhalter, founder and chief executive officer of Drive Planning LLC, of being apart of a Ponzi scheme that affected at least 2,000 investors. According to his LinkedIn, Drive Planning is based in Alpharetta.

The SEC filed a complaint against Burkhalter in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the SEC said. Burkhatler was accused of violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.

Officials have obtained an injunction to freeze Burkhalter's assets, among other emergency relief, the SEC said. Burkhalter's wife and others are also named in the complaint as relief defendants, the SEC said.

“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,” SEC Atlanta Regional Office's Director Nekia Hackworth Jones said in a news release. “Investors should be vigilant when they encounter aggressive sellers who make over-the-top sales pitches and promise high rates of guaranteed returns.”

Burkhalter was accused of gaining more than $300 million in "purported real estate investments" from 2020 through at least June, promising investors that their money would fund land development projects, the SEC said.

The commission said Burkhalter and co-defendants pledged 10 percent interest every three months and "encouraged investors to tap their savings, retirement accounts and even open lines of credit to invest. In reality, the defendants did not have a business capable of generating the promised returns, and they instead used investor funds to make Ponzi-like payments, according to the complaint."

Burkhalter was accused of stealing money from investors to buy a $3.1 million yacht, spend $4.6 million on chartering private jets and luxury car services and spend $2 million on a luxury condo.

The SEC said it is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, civil penalties against the defendants and an officer-and-director bar against Burkhalter.