ATLANTA, GA — David Bradford, a former top executive at an Alpharetta investment firm, has been sentenced to prison in connection with a $380 million Ponzi scheme, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.
Bradford, who was the chief operating officer of financial firm Drive Planning, was sentenced to about four years in prison for his alleged role in the scheme, the AJC reported.
In December 2025, federal prosecutors said Bradford pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after the Ponzi scheme cost investors millions of dollars.
The 53-year-old was one of three executives who pled guilty in the case, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of Georgia.
Julie Edwards, the chief administrative officer, and Todd Burkhalter, the founder and chief executive officer, will also be sentenced this week, the AJC reported. Burkhalter is a 54-year-old from St. Petersburg, Florida, federal prosecutors said.
The charges against Bradford stemmed from an incident that occurred from late 2021 until around June 2024.
Federal prosecutors said Drive Planning marketed a "Cash Out Real Estate Fund," shortened to "CORE Fund." The executives claimed through the CORE Fund, potential investors were told 100 percent passive income would be provided from tax liens, the attorney's office said.
The investors were guaranteed a 10 percent return every six months, or a 22 percent return annually for up to three years, prosecutors said.
"Drive Planning further materially misrepresented that investors' contributions to the CORE Fund were pooled together, government-protected and fully collateralized. As part of the scheme, Bradford created a marketing brochure to promote the CORE Fund, which was shared with Drive Planning's sales agents to solicit investors," prosecutors said.
They added the money from the investors were actually being used to pay other Drive Planning investors, pay the commissions of Drive Planning agents and pay for personal expenses.
"Bradford and others at Drive Planning further concealed the scheme to defraud by failing to disclose that Drive Planning did not invest any funds in the CORE Fund after approximately Dec. 9, 2022. To the contrary, even after the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating Drive Planning in approximately March 2024, Bradford and others continued to solicit investments for the CORE Fund. In total, Drive Planning received at least $4.1 million from CORE Fund investors," prosecutors said.
Furthermore, Burkhalter's Real Estate Acceleration Loan was a Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 2,000 investors out of about $380 million, prosecutors said.
Any money collected from investors did not go toward their intended purposes but were instead used to pay Burkhalter's "ex-wife's attorneys and expenses related to recreational vehicles," pay off other investors and pay for personal expenses, such as the following:
"Bradford betrayed the trust of his clients, family and friends by encouraging them to make millions in bogus investments," U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a news release shortly after Bradford pled guilty in December. "We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and aggressively prosecute all forms of investment fraud."
Drive Planning, located at Avalon Boulevard, is currently in receivership and is permanently closed.
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