The founder and CEO of a Georgia-based financial planning firm, who previously pleaded guilty to a $380 million Ponzi scheme, will spend 20 years in federal prison, according to the Justice Department.
Drive Planning CEO Todd Burkhalter’s two-decade sentence was delivered Friday and was the maximum allowed by law. Burkhalter previously pleaded guilty in January to the scheme, which U.S. officials said was likely the largest Ponzi scheme in Georgia history.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said the sentence should “discourage” other financial advisors from following the same path, arguing Burkhalter “lured” investors to send millions of dollars to Drive Planning for nonexistent investments.
“He promised investors that they were guaranteed substantial returns on their investments, and he ruthlessly encouraged them to deplete their kids’ college funds, take early distributions from retirement accounts, and borrow significant sums at high interest rates,” Hertzberg said.
According to court documents, Drive Planning offered several investment opportunities, including the “Real Estate Acceleration Loan” (REAL) opportunity and the “Cash Out Real Estate Fund” (known as the “CORE Fund”).
Burkhalter told investors they didn’t have to be accredited to participate, encouraging them to pull from retirement accounts, savings and lines of credit. Burkhalter told investors REAL was a bridge loan that would guarantee 10% returns every three months by offering short-term loans to real estate developers in need of immediate cash flow.
Burkhalter fraudulently claimed the investments were “fully collateralized” by real estate, and the firm prepared fake “collateral sheets” identifying properties with fake valuations serving as the supposed collateral (some of the properties themselves didn’t exist).
Burkhalter operated REAL as a Ponzi scheme from the start; with its first $50,000 investment, Burkhalter used at least $21,000 to pay a previous Drive Planning investor. Through the scheme, none of the investors’ REAL Funds were used for the purpose Burkhalter claimed.
According to the DOJ, Burkhalter and the firm also lied about their relationships with real estate developers, claiming that a prominent developer secured the firm’s investments in real properties; in reality, that developer sued Drive Planning after learning how Burkhalter was using its name.
In the CORE Fund, Drive Planning claimed it provided “100% Passive Income from Tax Liens,” with guaranteed returns of 10% every six months or 22% annually for up to three years, and that the fund was government-protected and “fully collateralized” (all the claims were false). But Burkhalter didn’t tell investors that Drive Planning didn’t invest any money in the CORE Fund after December 2022.
According to court documents, Burkhalter used investors’ funds for private expenses, including $80,000 to pay his ex-wife’s attorneys and buy recreational vehicles.
He also spent about $2 million on a yacht named “Stillwater” (that Burkhalter later rechristened “Live More”), $2.1 million on a luxury condo in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, $800,000 on luxury vehicles, including a 2020 Prevost Marathon motorcoach and two 2024 Land Rovers, millions on luxury travel, including chartering private jets, and $320,000 on clothing, jewelry and beauty treatments.
The Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating Drive Planning in March 2024, but Burkhalter and the firm continued to solicit millions in investments for the scheme, eventually defrauding more than 2,000 investors out of about $380 million.
The SEC filed for a restraining order in August 2024, and Burkhalter pleaded guilty to wire fraud in January. In addition to the 20-year prison sentence, he was ordered to pay nearly $234 million in restitution to victims.
Days before Burkhalter’s sentencing, the same federal judge sentenced David Bradford and Julie Edwards, two Drive Planning employees who’d previously pleaded guilty in connection with the fraud. Chief Operating Officer David Bradford was sentenced to more than four years in prison, while Chief Administrative Officer Julie Edwards will spend two years behind bars.
