Two former executives tied to a sprawling Georgia investment fraud received relatively short prison terms after prosecutors said they helped carry out the largest Ponzi scheme in the state’s history — a $380 million operation that devastated thousands of victims.
David Bradford, the former chief operating officer of Drive Planning, and Julie Edwards, its former chief administrative officer, worked with CEO Todd Burkholter in a scheme that defrauded more than 2,000 investors while helping bankroll an extravagant lifestyle, authorities said.
Bradford was sentenced to four years in prison, while Edwards received a two-year sentence for their roles in the yearslong fraud, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Drive Planning, which is now under receivership, promoted multiple investment products to would-be clients, including a “Real Estate Acceleration Loan” program, known as “REAL,” and the “Cash Out Real Estate Fund,” referred to as the “CORE Fund.”
Federal prosecutors said company leaders pitched the CORE Fund as a source of “100% Passive Income from Tax Liens,” promising investors a 10% return every six months or a 22% annual return for as long as three years.
But Drive Planning executives failed to disclose that money brought into the CORE Fund after Dec. 9, 2022, was not being invested in the way investors had been told, prosecutors said.
Bradford, a 53-year-old pastor and father of six, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a $4 million case.
At his sentencing hearing Wednesday, Bradford expressed remorse, admitting he had harmed victims and describing himself as a “coward” for his role in the fraud.
“I was a coward,” Bradford said in court, according to the outlet. “I participated in that fraud and I benefited from it, and there’s no excuse for what I did. I deceived myself and, in turn, I deceived the people who trusted me.”
US District Court Judge Tiffany Johnson, who handed down the four-year prison term, accepted Bradford’s remorsefulness but also said he had defrauded thousands of people, including a large number he had met at church.
“They relied on you because of your faith and because they thought you were a good man who would not lead them astray,” Johnson said Wednesday. “It’s a really serious crime because there’s a lot of people whose lives were turned upside down.”
Attorneys for Bradford argued for a three-year sentence, saying the former COO hadn’t been a part of the entire scheme and even lost money as an investor, the outlet reported.
Some of the victims lost their retirement savings and children’s college funds, while others were forced to remortgage their homes
Bradford was ordered to pay $4.2 million in restitution, a similar amount Drive Planning received as part of the CORE Fund scheme.
Edwards pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in March after initially entering a not guilty plea.
She used $630,000 of the investors’ funds to purchase a home in Cumming, Ga., the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Edwards was told to vacate the home and Drive Planning’s receiver took it over as part of a civil case against the company filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Burkholter, 54, pleaded guilty to wire fraud back in January after being caught masterminding the $380 million scheme between September 2020 and June 2024, out of the company he had founded.
He used the funds for luxurious purchases including $2 million yacht, $2.1 million luxury condo in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and $800,000 spent on multiple luxury vehicles that included a 2020 Prevost Marathon motorcoach and two 2024 Land Rovers.
His sentencing is scheduled for Friday.
As part of the plea deal, federal prosecutors promised to recommend 17 and a half years of imprisonment for Burkholter.
