SEC Charges Atlanta-Based Company With $300 Million Ponzi Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has obtained a court order freezing the assets of Atlanta-based Drive Planning LLC and other forms of emergency relief after accusing the company of running a $300 million Ponzi scheme impacting more than 2,000 investors. Judge Victoria Calvert of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued two orders on Aug. 13 granting the SEC’s motion for a preliminary injunction freezing the company’s assets, appointing a receiver, and granting other emergency relief. The SEC accused Drive Planning and its CEO, Russell Todd Burkhalter, of misappropriating millions of dollars of investor funds that were supposed to be used for real estate investments but were instead used to make Ponzi-like payments and fund what the SEC described in a press release as Burkhalter’s “lavish lifestyle.”...